Persistent Resistance
by SinisterBug
Summary: YAOI. V-Day Exchange fic. Prompt: AU ZoSan. Sanji is an overworked chef at a New York restaurant called The Baratie. One night he's attacked at a night club, only to be saved by a green haired who's connection to him is more complicated than it seems. 5Ch
1. Chapter 1

Sanji knew he'd seen this guy somewhere, but at the moment, he was more concerned that anyone passing by would misconstrue the… well, he supposed it could have been considered a _rescue_, for something it wasn't. His wrist wrapped tightly in the unusually warm hand, pinned over his head against the sparkly black wall of the nightclub he'd managed to find himself in tonight. Their bodies inappropriately close, the irritated scowl he was currently receiving – it all suggested something he most certainly didn't want anyone at this club, especially the ladies, to misunderstand.

"Let go already, he's gone."

"What the hell were you doing, you idiot? You're drunk as fuck and if I hadn't bothered to follow in there after you-"

"You were _following_ me?"

"I just _happened_ to notice that puss bucket tailing you all night. If you weren't so trashed, you would have noticed too."

Sanji pushed the slightly larger man off. "You gonna lecture me for being _drunk_ in a _club_? You saved my ass, so thanks or whatever. We're done here."

He swaggered back to his table.

"What took you so long?" Ace asked, almost accusingly.

Sanji sidled up to the lovely blond next to Ace.

"…There was a fight outside the bathroom. Bouncers had to break it up."

He wasn't about to admit in front of anyone that he'd almost been raped in a dirty bathroom stall by a smelly, abnormally large fat man missing some teeth. Or that he'd been saved by some green haired guy whom he still couldn't remember where he knew him from.

* * *

Sanji was used to hangovers – he was a chef. About the only time he wasn't expected to show up at work at 6 am with a hangover was Tuesday. The hangover from Sunday would still linger through Monday night, so no one ever partied Monday night, usually ensuring that the majority of the staff was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and sober by Tuesday morning.

An affliction that was usually remedied by Tuesday evening .

So the usual symptoms were no bother to him. No, what made him so distracted while going about his morning routine – taking stock of what was in the walk-in, coming up with a lunch special, going over the reservation book, among a slew of other things -as fluently as he normally did, was trying to piece together what had happened the night before. He hadn't managed to make it home with any of the ladies he had attached himself to, but he suspected that he wouldn't have been able to show 'em a very good time anyway.

And frankly, rather than disappoint, he'd prefer to go without.

When Ace finally showed up looking as fresh and smart as usual to start taking down chairs in the front, Sanji gave him the usual grunt. He wouldn't have time to shoot the shit until well after 2 pm. The breakfast crowd would be in soon, and though the other cooks had arrived and by now were already toiling away at their stations – roasting bones for stock, heating sauces, cutting filets, slicing calves' liver, too many things to name – one of them hadn't shown up yet, so Sanji was doing double time with two different stations.

He could only speculate on what Gin's excuse would be this time. Would he fire him? No. He'd scream at him, mentally and perhaps physically break him down just to the point where he couldn't take it anymore. But then he'd throw the dipshit's apron at him, and Gin would pick it up, put it on, sulk like a mother fucker, and then get to his station and start whippin' out orders like lightning.

They'd go out for drinks later that night.

The other waiters finally showed up, and Sanji figured that maybe two of the seven were worth the money he paid them. Kaku was good; a very calm guy under pressure. He was immaculate with knowing the menu – thus helpful in avoiding mis-orders – and the customers liked him. Franky was good too; he knew exactly how to get along with difficult people, the staff _and_ the customers, and he was up for anything after hours. Coby could go either way – either he'd toughen up and turn out pretty good, or he'd buckle under all the screaming and harassment he got back in the kitchen. So that one was a toss up. The rest? He didn't even bother to remember their names.

The bus boy was late again. He'd never get why the old wind bag – the owner, Zeff – didn't fire that dumbass monkey. He broke a good five or six dishes a day, constantly filched food from the kitchen, and was a damn nuisance. He supposed it had something to do with how _no one_ could say no to him. Not even Sanji.

Noon came.

"Carne, where the fuck is that lamb plate? Do I need to go back there, bend you over the grill and fuck you in the ass while doing it myself? Because I'm pretty sure I could get that plate out here faster while doing that than you can on your own!"

"Don't know how, chef, if you've got no dick! I'm waiting on Patty, who apparently came to work today with no fucking arms or legs! S'only reason I can think of for why he's being so god damned slow today!"

"I got it, keep your ass on! You want this done right, you wait!"

"Not in my kitchen you pimple-faced, dickless fag! Move your ass or I'll rip your balls off and serve them with the special!"

Things continued at a pretty decent pace until two thirty rolled around, and Sanji immediately went out back for a smoke. Ace joined him around three.

"The front done?" Sanji sat on a crate and sucked on his cigarette, letting feeling slowly return to his feet.

"Yeah, I sent Luffy across the street."

"Good call." That would keep the sticky fingered bastard out of the stores.

"So what the fuck happened to you last night?" Ace pulled up his own crate and sipped on a coke.

"What?"

"You were bullshitting about the fight, man. You looked pale as shit. You get sick or something?"

"Nah, I just got roughed up in the bathroom by an ugly mother fucker. I was fine."

"Whaddya mean, 'roughed up'?"

"It's nothing to flip your shit about, I was fine. Some guy helped me out. I was shit faced, so I probably just looked it."

They were quiet for the next ten minutes, enjoying the brief time they had before Ace had to return to the mountain of dishes and Sanji had to get back to the prep work for the evening rush.

"Where do I know a green haired guy from?" Sanji finally asked. He'd figured he would remember where he knew that guy from once he was sober, but nothing had come.

"You mean Zoro?" Ace asked, eyebrow raised.

"I dunno. He was the guy who helped me at the club last night. Short green hair, tan, muscles. About the same height as me."

"Three gold earrings?"

"Dunno. It was dark."

"Sounds like him. Though, it _doesn't_ sound like him to be at Merry's Night Club."

"But where have _I_ met him before?"

Ace scratched his chin. "I guess you probably saw him with Lucci."

"Lucci? Bartender Lucci? Where?" Sanji asked incredulously. Lucci was one of the most badass mother fuckers he knew – the righteous prig he met last night would _not_ be hanging out with the Baratie's bartender, whom Sanji highly suspected of being involved in organized crime.

"Lucci's other bartending job. Zoro bounces at Skypeia. Yeah… actually, remember? We went there a few weeks ago, and he and Lucci fucked those guys up real good-"

"Oh!" Sanji crowed, suddenly remembering. There had been a group of punks starting some shit with a rival gang. He didn't know anything about the gangs, but it had finally come down to Lucci handling six or seven guys at once, while Zoro had dragged some bald-headed, long eared weird ass guy outside to whoop the shit out of him. It was pretty epic, since they both seemed to know martial arts of some sort.

But… for some reason, he remembered that when he saw Zoro last night, it almost seemed like déjà vu. He'd been reminded of some place that flickered in and out of his mind, and he knew it hadn't been the parking lot of Skypeia.

"Dunno. Feel like I've seen him somewhere else too."

Ace shrugged. "Why? Gonna send him a thank you card for saving your skinny ass?"

Sanji dropped his cigarette and stood up, stretching.

"Kinda wanted to kick his ass. He tried to lecture me afterwards about not being careful or some shit. I guess I owe him though."

Any miscellaneous thinking was immediately pushed from his mind as Sanji started in for the dinner rush. He only barely had time to wave a cheerful welcome to the only members of the wait staff that he actually _liked_, Nami and Vivi. The rest of the time was spent slaving over the grill station. Gin had finally showed up, so he was at full staff, and they were a well enough greased machine that he trusted everyone to do their job.

The Baratie on a weeknight could easily do around 250 meals, which was pretty respectable. There was an event at the museum several blocks away, so they were crowded that night and probably did around 330. Lucci would be pleased, he was sure.

Luffy managed to make it through the night with only three ceramic victims under his belt, and even the more idiotic members of the wait staff were holding their own. He couldn't have asked for it to have run any smoother.

He'd leave inventory for the morning when he had his meeting with Kalifa, the Baratie's manager.

Gin actually had plans that night, so they'd have to get drinks another time. As for the rest of them, tonight they were skipping the nightclubs and heading straight over to Water 7, their favorite bar. Everyone knew everyone, the lights were dim, the booze and the music were good; it was the perfect place to head after a busy night when no one had the energy to shower and put on nice clothes for a night club.

As soon as Lucci was done putting in his tips, he, Ace, Sanji, Kaku, and Franky headed out into the humid evening darkness. It was a 20 minute walk to Water 7, but it'd go quickly.

"How were tips tonight, Lucci?" Sanji asked. It was always a good idea to keep your bartender happy, even if he was only part-time. Always. Eventually he'd find another job, but if you were good to him, he'd happily give you free drinks at his new gig.

"Respectable."

Sanji nodded. Lucci was a stoic guy. It had taken Sanji a while to figure out if he liked him or not. He hardly every laughed or smiled and, when he did, it was usually something to do with violence. But he was a damn good employee, and more importantly (at least to Sanji's testosterone laden mind) he could kick major ass. When he told a customer they'd had enough, they hardly _ever_ argued.

"Got a couple of friends meeting us at Water."

Sanji raised his brow. He didn't know Lucci _had_ friends, though he and Kaku seemed to know each other from somewhere.

"Supa!" Franky crowed. "The more the merrier. Though, gotta admit, Lu, if they're as quiet as you, I might have to pull out the old guitar and strike a few chords to keep the party goin'! Ow!"

Only a man as oblivious as Franky would have the guts to call Lucci 'Lu', but Lucci didn't respond.

Water 7 was pretty well full when they got there, but the bartender opened up some tables in the back for them, since they were regulars. They pulled up some more chairs to the booth, and Kaku went to open their tab and order the drinks.

"So where's your crew?" Ace asked.

"Brook had a gig that got out half an hour ago, so they should be here in a bit."

"A gig? Like a musician?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette.

Lucci nodded. "Jazz musician."

Sanji 'hm'd'. "As long as the word 'experimental' doesn't pre- or proceed. Hate guys like that."

"No kidding," Ace grinned. "Spoons on water is not an instrument."

"Whatever soothes your soul, man. I happen to have my guitar and my manliness, but if spoons on water is what I was good at this week, I'd still rock it. Ow!"

"Is Jyabura coming?" Kaku asked Lucci as he came up with a few drinks in hand.

Lucci nodded. "Think so."

"Kaku!"

A group of guys walked in the door, and Lucci nodded and Kaku waved.

A tall, skinny, white guy with the biggest afro Sanji had ever seen, a guy with a sinister looking goatee and long braid, and… the guy from last night.

Ace laughed and elbowed him. "Look, it's your knight in shining armor!"

Sanji glared. "Shut the hell up."

"What are you talking about?" Lucci asked.

"Zoro saved Sanji's ass last night at Merry's when he got roughed up in the bathroom."

The corner of Lucci's mouth _might_ have twitched. Sanji doubted the man's eyes could twinkle, but something like amusement definitely flickered. It was unsettling.

"I was drunk, alright? Don't fucking bring it up. Maybe he won't remember."

"He will," Lucci said simply.

The group that just came in ordered their drinks at the bar and helped Kaku carry the rest back.

Sanji glanced at Zoro, who nodded at him. Sanji nodded back, then quickly got to the business of drinking. This was _not_ what he needed right now.

It wouldn't have been such a big deal if it really had just been that Sanji was roughed up in the bathroom in a drunken fight. But that very much was _not_ what happened. And Zoro _did_ know what happened, and the chef didn't know if Zoro was going to keep quiet about it or not.

"So which one of you is the musician?" Ace asked.

Sanji took a back seat in the conversation for the most part. This was a group of men - if booze flowed, talk would go on for hours.

Eventually it came down to Franky and a guitar he'd snatched from behind the bar (Sanji wasn't going to question it, he'd finally caught a nice buzz), and Brook (who turned out to be the skinny-as-bones mother fucker with the afro) finally unplugging the jukebox, and the two of them performing on top of a table, much to the glee of the other drunken patrons.

Ace and Kaku and Jyabura (who, it turned out, was actually a zookeeper with a lot of interesting stories to tell) cheered them on, which left the perpetually quiet Lucci, Zoro and Sanji at their table.

"What did Robin say?" Zoro asked, looking into his beer.

"She's still pissed about… that. I told her it was just a part of the job, it wasn't personal. She doesn't trust me yet."

"She'll get over it."

"Not with you hanging around all the time. She's never gonna look at me if she's always got her eye on you."

"Keep using that as your excuse, but you know where I stand, and so does she."

Sanji realized that this was an unexpectedly interesting conversation. He leaned forward. "Doth mine ears deceive me? Rob Lucci is having woman troubles?"

The man snorted. "Just this woman."

"Not 'just this woman'," Zoro smirked. "If it was just some woman, you wouldn't give a fuck after so long."

Lucci didn't reply.

"Wait, so you're serious about someone?" Sanji laughed. "After all the chicks I've seen you pick up just by _thinking_ in their direction? And you went and fell for the one on the planet who might actually turn you down. So what's her deal?"

Lucci swirled what was left in his drink. "We've got some bad history."

Sanji raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Does it have to do with your _other job_ I'm never supposed to ask about?"

Lucci leaned in close and looked over his shoulder. Zoro leaned in as well. Sanji's eyes went wide and he held his breath.

"She had a hit out on her. I was supposed to whack her, but some shit went down with the government and the hit was canceled."

"No shit?" Sanji whispered.

"No, actually. I'm just fucking with you." Lucci leaned back, his expression the same. Zoro slapped Lucci's arm and laughed.

Sanji hung his head and grinned. "I can't believe I fell for that shit."

"Not hard to convince people when it's what they already think anyway."

The chef sat back up, still grinning. "So what do you do then, if you're not a hit man for the mafia?"

"CIA."

"Bullshit. If you worked for the CIA you'd be gone all the fucking time."

Lucci shrugged.

"Fine, if you're not gonna tell me what you do, at least tell me why this woman isn't falling in line like the rest."

Zoro snorted. "You don't know Robin. Then again, any woman would be pissed if you were two timing her two best friends, while at the same time trying to hook up with her."

Sanji shook his head. "Damn. You dog."

Lucci frowned. "It wasn't that bad. She's just blowing it out of proportion. But Vivi was-"

"What? Vivi? As in… Baratie's Vivi? _My_ Vivi?"

Lucci nodded. "I was dating her, then Nami and I hit it off – you know, real casual stuff –

"Nami? MY NAMI??"

"- but then they introduced me to Robin. Vivi wanted to get serious, Nami obviously didn't care, but I got real caught up with Robin, so I ended it with Vivi. I never even got a chance to ask her out before Vivi told her about it, and Robin was all… something about being loyal."

Sanji sat there, gaping like a fish. His two favorite, sweet, beautiful waitresses had _both_ been nailed by Lucci, his bartender, and he'd never known about it.

And before he'd ever even had a chance.

"Cheer up. Chances are you've never met a woman worth doing that Lucci _hasn't_ done," Zoro grinned. He looked at Lucci. "Ah, except, of course, Robin."

"Shut the fuck up," Lucci snarled. "Shall I get started on you?"

Zoro raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything further.

Sanji was still in shock. "I… think I'm going to go drown myself in the bathroom."

He dragged himself to the bathroom, cursing Lucci and his mostly silent good looks, and how this was a much smaller world than he thought it was. Lucci had banged Nami and Vivi, who were best friends with the woman Lucci was _actually_ in love with, and somehow they all knew Zoro – the man who'd defended his chastity so fiercely the night before, but seemed to be saying nothing about it. And who, apparently, he already knew from Skypeia. Oh, and somewhere else that he still couldn't remember.

The bathroom was empty, thankfully, and he had the added protection of available stalls. At least he'd get a heads up if some guy tried to bust in on him. Someone followed him in – and as soon as he left his stall, he realized that someone had green hair, and was leaning against the sink where he needed to wash his hands.

"I don't know which one of you is creepier – the guy last night for the attempted rape, or you for consistently following me into bathrooms. I need the sink."

Zoro moved aside. "Just making sure you didn't need my help like last time."

Sanji wiped his hands on a paper towel, and straightened his tie in the mirror. "I'm starting to wonder about you, pal. You're seriously creeping me out. Ace says you don't go to clubs, but you just happened to be at the one I was at last night, and you just _happened_ to be paying enough attention to me to know I was being creeped on. You just _happen_ to be friends with my bartender, and I can't figure it out, but I know I've seen you somewhere other than the brawl at Skypeia a few weeks ago."

Sanji turned around.

"I'm gonna say it real simple; back the fuck off."

Zoro snorted. "Figures you wouldn't remember."

"Remember _what_, exactly?"

"Where you saw me before."

"Enlighten me."

The green haired man grinned, and Sanji's stomach squirmed. He just now noticed the other man's attire: black muscle tank and a black dress shirt with the buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up over it. And, he was pretty sure those were a $500 pair of Armani jeans.

Zoro was about to say something when Ace busted in. "Franky just punched a guy out, cops are on the way."

"Fuck," Sanji spat, and they both hurried out after Ace.

* * *

Sanji spent the remainder of the week trying to remember where the hell he'd met that guy before. They'd gotten away before the cops came, everyone grouping up in taxis and disappearing. Lucci had gone with Zoro, so he didn't have an opportunity to question him about it. And the other part time bartender was scheduled for the rest of the week until Friday.

He'd just as well _not_ question anyone or, if he had his way, think about it. But it was nagging at him constantly. Ace couldn't recall knowing him from anywhere else either.

He started listing off clues as he mindlessly did inventory in his cramped office.

First, Zoro was obviously familiar with him, and not likely from the Skypeia incident. Second, he seemed to know an inordinately large number of Sanji's friends. Third, he got along well with Lucci (well, that wasn't really a clue, but it was something he felt worth noting). He was prone to stalking Sanji in bathrooms. He owned at least one pair of really fucking expensive jeans. What else?

He frowned. All of that pretty much amounted to nothing. He was going to have to extract more information from Lucci.

* * *

Sanji'd been working at the Baratie for eight grueling months, and for eight grueling months he'd only gotten Sundays off after working 17 hour days. Sunday was normally his day to collapse. Sleep and smoke, order take out because his feet ached too much to stand up in the kitchen and cook. But this Sunday he decided he needed something different, so he headed to the rec center in his neighborhood.

Before getting his job at the Baratie he would visit the rec center three, four times a week, always the same time in the afternoon. He'd casually studied a lot of martial arts styles, never really settling for anything specific. While he was apprenticing in France he'd gotten pretty heavily into _savate_ (French foot-fighting), but there weren't any places in New York that offered it at a reasonable price, so he settled for the free random classes at the rec: Tae Kwon Do, karate, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and more recently, Muay Thai. Whatever they happened to be teaching around 1 pm Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays suited him just fine. The instructors all knew him pretty well anyway.

He leaned against the wall as he waited for the kiddie class to dismiss, eyeballing the brats through the large glass window that provided a wide view of the activities inside. The lovely, sweet, blond and curvy Conis was teaching the kiddos aerobics today.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

Sanji grinned.

"Had a rare day off, thought I'd stop by and see how you sorry saps are doing."

Shuraiya Bascud was about the last person you'd think would volunteer his spare hours at a community rec center. He had a startling tattoo on his left cheek of a pirate hook and a constant scowl on his face. He was a cruel son of a bitch to his adult students, but put him around kids… a complete 180, particularly in the presence of his darling little sister, Adelle.

"I'm teaching Muy Thai next – you joining?"

Sanji nodded.

"Hope you've been practicing-"

"Whoa! Look who dragged his sorry carcass to our little corner of town!"

"Saga," Sanji blinked, surprised. Saga was another volunteer for the rec center, one who made a lot more sense than Shuraiya. The lavender haired man was a stand up citizen, formerly a firefighter and one hell of a kendo student. He'd been in a bad accident on the job - a month before Sanji got his job at the Baratie - and lost the use of one of his arms. The last Sanji had heard of him, he'd been released from the hospital, but gone into a bad depression. He couldn't blame the guy – if he lost the use of one of his limbs, especially his hands…

"Yeah, been a while, huh? I heard you got a cushy new job as a chef in some fancy restaurant uptown."

Sanji snorted. "Fancy is one word for it. Can't complain though. Got a good staff and I'm paid way too much for what I'm doing."

"Obviously keeps you busy though. Haven't seen you around."

"Yeah, the hours are hell."

Sanji noticed Saga's bad arm in a black bandage, but decided not to ask about it.

"So I heard something weird the other day," Saga went on, adopting a grin and sharing it with Shuraiya knowingly.

"What?" Sanji frowned.

Shuraiya crossed his arms, looking smug. "Heard Zoro had to save your sorry ass at the Merry the other night."

Sanji froze. "How the hell do you know about that?"

"He told me. Of course, he said you were so fucking shit faced you couldn't walk straight, but it sounded like the guy was making excuses for ya," Saga raised his eyebrow.

"How the fuck does everyone know this asshole? I got jumped in the bathroom when my back was turned and yeah, I was drunk. I would have been fine with or _without_ his help, but that creepy ass mother fucker has a nasty habit of stalking me in bathrooms, it's not like I got my ass kicked."

Shuraiya and Saga looked at each other again.

"What do you mean, following you into bathrooms?" Saga asked.

"I don't even _know_. Somehow he knows all my friends, shows up at the places I party at, then follows me into bathrooms to make sure I don't get jumped. Well, it only happened twice, but twice is enough to freak me the fuck out. How do you know this guy, because I know him from _somewhere_ but I can't figure it out-"

Shuraiya looked at him. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Come on Sanji, how long have you been coming to this place?" Saga asked, looking slightly indignant.

"Four, five years? Why?"

Shuraiya snorted. "It's Zoro. Roronoa Zoro. Come on, dip shit, you used to see him four times a week after class. He teaches kendo after this and _has_ been for the last _two years_."

Sanji was speechless.

Now he remembered. Every time he got out of class, there _he_ would be, waiting in his black hakama and white kendo jacket, leaning against the wall like Sanji was now. They'd nod at each other, and once or twice Sanji stuck around long enough to catch a glimpse of him in action.

It wasn't as significant as Sanji suspected their familiarity might be, but it was enough to make him feel like a complete idiot. Seriously, someone he saw several times a week for a few years, and somehow he'd forgotten the guy in the course of eight months.  
And now the original indignation about him being off his guard was starting to make a little more sense. Zoro knew he was a perfectly capable fighter, so it probably was annoying to see him so piss drunk he couldn't even defend himself.

"What did he tell you, exactly, about that night?" Sanji's eyes narrowed.

"Just that Marshall followed you into the bathroom and that Zoro had to save your ass. Why?" Saga asked.

"Who the fuck is Marshall?"

Shuraiya laughed. "You are one clueless mother fucker, aren't you? Marshall Teach, the guy that _attacked_ you."

"No, actually, he wouldn't know who Marshall is," Saga interrupted. "Unless Lucci brought it up."

Sanji's head began to swim. "How the hell do all you people know each other? This is New York, for Christ's sake!"

Just then the class that Conis was teaching let out and Sanji immediately shook off his bad mood. He and Conis caught up for a few minutes while the other students for Shuraiya's class showed up.

Sanji wasn't out of shape, per se, but he'd definitely been in better shape. He'd gone out partying almost every night after work, and it was starting to take a toll on him. But it was something that went with the gig socially. If he started to be known as the boss who couldn't hang with his employees, they'd probably starting thinking that _he_ thought he was too good for them. A good relationship with his employees was important not just for how his restaurant ran, but how easy it was to get good connections with his suppliers, how easy it would be to hire other good employees – the web of how it all came together was mind boggling. If he had a reputation for being an asshole, it could affect anything from receiving good service at other restaurants to getting a loan for a car.

The restaurant industry was a fucking shady place. But in the last eight months he'd come to understand it to some degree, and love it.

He was exhausted and not very impressed with himself when the class was finished, and he knew by the look on his face that Shuraiya wasn't very impressed either.

He peeled off his sweet drenched shirt and inspected the places he was sure were going to bruise tomorrow.

"You're even losing definition in your stomach. What the fuck have you been doing for the last eight months? Some of them could kick your ass at this point." Shuraiya nodded to the soccer moms and octogenarians that passed by.

"Shut the fuck up. I don't have time to work out three hours everyday anymore. I get home and I'm fucking exhausted from having an _actual job_ all day."

"And you're still smoking. You're gonna be wrecked by 30."

"Yeah, yeah. You're starting to sound like the shitty old man."

"Just come in every once in a while, and don't drink so fucking much. Do some fucking crunches before you go to bed. You're not half as flexible as you were eight months ago-"

"_Alright_, mom. Shut the fuck up already."

* * *

So he'd solved the mystery, but he still felt oddly discontent about it. He could chalk it all up to Zoro wanting to lecture him about being on his guard and knowing better, and maybe if the guy hadn't followed him into the bar at Water 7, he probably could have left it at that. But Zoro had followed him in there for a reason and they'd been interrupted before he could find out whatever it was.

Or maybe he was over-thinking it. If Zoro really had something to say, he could find Sanji easily. Zoro knew all his fucking friends – something that irrationally pissed him off – and Zoro knew that Lucci worked with him at the Baratie.

"So whaddya say, boss?"

Sanji looked up from the reservation book he was scowling at. Nami and Vivi were smiling at him angelically.

"I don't think he heard us," Vivi grinned. "Wanna come with us tonight to Okama's Way?"

Sanji momentarily faltered. Two gorgeous women were asking him to accompany them on a rare outing to a club _with them_. The only problem was the club they were asking him to go to.

"Come on, please? It's the only way we can go out and have fun without getting molested on the dance floor! I promise to tell everyone you're straight, and if you dance with us all night, no one will bother you. Please? Our girlfriend is really depressed right now, and she needs a night of fun. Ace said he'd go if you go, and Franky's going." Nami batted those gorgeous lashes at him, and he knew he couldn't refuse…

…even if it was the gayest club in New York.


	2. Chapter 2

Going out with Nami and Vivi required actually going home to shower and put on decent clothes beforehand, so he took a taxi straight to Okama's Way once he had cleaned up and waited for them a few buildings down. He was sure to get hit on if he got any closer without a companion.

He'd chosen what he considered nice but clearly stated 'heterosexual' clothing for the evening – black suit pants sans the jacket, plain white, loose fitting button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up since it was so hot out, and a black tie. He'd easily not stand out, but still look decent.

He'd been waiting about ten minutes when he began to wonder if they were already inside. The _last_ thing he wanted was to go in and find they weren't there - then he'd be trapped - but he didn't feel like waiting around outside for much longer.

A taxi pulled up to the curb in front of him just then, and possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on emerged.

Raven black hair, her gorgeous face all mature lines and angles, curves he could get lost in and beautiful ethereal blue eyes.

"You got a lot of nerve accusing _me_ of stalking _you_, cook."

And from the other side of the cab emerged the only person who could ruin such an obviously destined moment. Roronoa Zoro.

"Oh, is _this_ Sanji?" Her voice was so _refined_. Not that girls like Nami and Vivi weren't beautiful – their young, flirtatious charms were more than adequate in Sanji's eyes – but _this_ was a _woman_.

"I'm not sure how you came to know my name, but I don't think I can go a moment longer without knowing _yours_." He took her hand gently and kissed it. She smiled, but oh, that smile was just full of thoughts, information, experience… It gave him shivers.

Zoro stepped between them, giving Sanji an icy look. "You heard Lucci and me talking about _Robin_."

Sanji blinked, and realization of the most amusing kind washed over him. No wonder. If there was a woman in the world who could trip up Rob Lucci, it would be this goddess before him. This goddess who, by the look on Zoro's face, definitely was 'off limits'. Besides, even for her, he'd be hard pressed to cross Lucci. He didn't care what the man really did for a living – he would end up on the bad end of something painful if his bartender found out.

"Ah, yes, I do remember. No wonder he's so vexed over you," he smiled, charm oozing from his pores. And now he also understood Lucci's complaint about Zoro. The guy was giving off all sorts of 'protective' and 'territorial' vibes around the woman. Maybe they were having an affair, but Zoro was too chicken shit to admit it. Hell, he would be too, if it were him.

"And I don't know where you get off on accusing _me_-" Sanji began, but someone interrupted by calling out his name.

"Sanji! Oh, Robin! Did you all come here together?" Vivi, Nami, Ace and Franky all came walking up the sidewalk hurriedly.

_Shit_, Sanji cursed inwardly, though he was otherwise very pleased to see his friends. It was those damn small-world connections again. Nami and Vivi must be here with Robin, and Robin was here with Zoro, and Sanji was there with Vivi and Nami, so he'd be stuck with Zoro all night.

They were let in free of charge, as usual. The owner was particularly enamored of their circle, or, to put it more honestly – Sanji. There had been an incident with a thing and a place, and somehow the very flamboyant, cross dressing owner of the gayest night club in New York was either in love with Sanji, or had some very mixed up, Freudian notions about him. Sanji didn't hate the guy, but it was easier to just avoid him altogether. He had an uncanny ability to push the chef's buttons.

Fighting their way through the barely dressed, glittery horde of writhing men-folk, they made their way to a VIP booth upstairs. It was too much to ask that the owner wouldn't show up at some point, but Sanji intended to get a bit more alcohol in him before that happened. A waiter came and took their order, and he lit a cigarette as soon as he was settled. The more he could do to medicate himself before the guy showed up, the better.

Ace noticed and grinned. "Putting on your armor while you still can, eh?"

"Shut the hell up. If you had to go through what I do every time I see this guy, you'd be snorting coke everyday to ease the nightmares."

Nami and Vivi giggled from their end of the booth and Zoro sat back, nonchalantly throwing an arm around Robin's shoulder and looking at him. "What are you talking about?"

Sanji just glared, not intending to answer, but Franky spoke up for him. He slicked a hand through his ridiculous hair. "See, Bonclay's gotta a lot of love in his heart for our man Sanji here. A lot of love. A lot of manly love, even though Bonclay isn't the manliest man I know. But his heart's real manly, ya know?"

Zoro obviously didn't know, so Nami filled him in. "Bonclay has the hots for Sanji."

Zoro smiled and laughed, and Sanji's stomach flopped unpleasantly.

Their drinks arrived shortly after, and Sanji didn't hesitate to order another one before he even finished. Zoro was the only one who raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem inclined to comment again.

After some chatter and a few drinks, the girls urged the guys downstairs. Zoro looked like he was going to follow Robin, but then noticed Sanji wasn't getting up.

"Oh, Sanji doesn't dance here," Vivi cheerfully informed him. "He always gets raped out there, so we let him sulk up here and get drunk."

Zoro sat back down.

"Good idea," Nami said before taking Ace's hand slyly. "You can defend him from all the scary gay men for a while!"  
After they were gone, Sanji's jaw clenched. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Good, 'cuz I'm bad with kids."

"Bullshit. You teach a class at the rec center, you can't _not_ be good with kids."

"So you finally remembered."

"Sorry for having a life and a job outside that place. You aren't so fucking special that I'd remember a guy like you after a few days of being gone."

"Wanna tell me why the fuck you feel the need to be such a dick to me?"

"Maybe if you didn't go around telling half of New York that I got jumped by some perv in a bathroom and that you 'just happened' to be there to save me, I wouldn't have a reason to be a dick to you."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Shuraiya and Saga, dip shit. Are you just out to make me look bad?"

"I was talking to Saga about it because he asked about you; Shuraiya just happened to overhear. And it's not like I made myself out to be heroic or anything. The facts just seemed to speak for themselves," he scowled.

"Well if you wouldn't mind keeping your mouth shut about it, I'd rather people not know what happened-"

"I didn't tell anyone he tried to-"

"Shut your fucking mouth right now, asshole. If you ever, _ever_ mention it again, I will kick your ass all over this city," Sanji seethed. "And what the fuck is with you, anyway? No wonder Lucci's so pissed about you being all over his woman, you act like she's your property-"

Zoro's glare turned cold. "One thing doesn't have to do with the other; you're just looking for someone to be fucking pissed at because of what happened. I helped you, and you're treating me like shit for it. I'm not the one who forgot who you were after seeing you all the god damn time for two years, I'm not the one who got piss drunk and got attacked in a bathroom. All I did was help you and try to talk to you. God fucking strike me down with lightning for trying to be _nice_ to an asshole like you." He got up and kicked a chair out of his way, stomping down stairs.

Sanji waited all of twenty or so seconds before he downed the rest of his Manhattan and ran after the man. He thought he might have bowled over something pink and loud on the way down, but he didn't stop to check. He saw Zoro's back disappear out the entrance and he pushed through the crowd after him.

By the time he got outside, Zoro was already down the street with a cab pulling up beside him. Sanji sprinted after him and then the worst happened.

As it was happening, Sanji could see it occurring in photos, like it was sometimes portrayed in television shows or movies. The sound of a camera shutter, each still image worse than the last. The first image of him running after Zoro, the second of his foot catching on a hole in the sidewalk, the third of the horrified look on his face, leading into the fourth of him starting to go down at an alarming speed. The fifth of Zoro's horrified look, the sixth of Sanji's face in Zoro's crotch, and the seventh and final photo of them both on the pavement, limbs tangled.

Real time caught up with him. Sanji's hand was stinging, he could feel it grind against the pavement trapped underneath the other man's ass, his other wrist in a ball, also skinned badly and his face… still in Zoro's crotch.

"FUCK!"

* * *

"Are you sure you don't need to go to the emergency room?" Robin asked worriedly as she offered Zoro a bag of ice. Sanji sat with a sour expression on the couch next to the green haired man, bandages on both hands and his pride all but obliterated.

Zoro's head had taken a pretty hard knock on the pavement, and he had bled a little. He had a bad headache, but he wasn't sure if he was experiencing a concussion or not. But just to ease Robin's worries, he reassured her.

"Don't worry. This guy is gonna make sure I'm juuust fine. If something happens I'm sure he'll take real good care of me," he nodded at Sanji, who rolled his eyes.

"If you're sure…"

"Yeah, get back to the club. Tell them we're fine and not to worry about it."

Robin thanked Sanji and left.

As soon as she was gone, Zoro stood up and went to the kitchen.

"Is this Robin's place?" Sanji asked, betting it probably was. It was a tastefully decorated railroad flat in Manhattan that made him more than envious. All he had was a shitty apartment in The Bronx (thankfully on the Westside or his commute to the Baratie would have been hell) that he paid too much for.

"S'mine. You want some water?"

Sanji frowned, noting that the man who might have a concussion was up and around and waiting on _him_, but the displeasure was momentary, since he was being forced to be a caretaker.

"I'm fine. Sit your ass down before you pass out."

Zoro emerged from the kitchen with a glass of water, his expression unreadable.

"Just what the fuck were you doing?"

Sanji rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I _was_ coming out there to apologize."

Zoro downed the glass of water.

"Good job."

The chef scowled and stood up. "Look, we obviously got off on the wrong foot, and I didn't want you thinking that I'm an ungrateful dick, or that I can't take care of myself. I was pissed about what happened, I was kinda freaked out, and more freaked out because I thought you were going around telling everyone what _really_ happened, and then it turned out that somehow you know all my friends but I never knew, and that pissed me off even more, and then you followed me into the bathroom at Water and that was just _weird_, and I didn't know you were coming tonight, and we just _had_ to go to Okama's Way and I fucking hate going to Okama's Way and I didn't mean to trip all over the fucking place!" He ended his rant, panting slightly.

Zoro put his glass down and sat back down on the couch. Sanji sat down as well.

"I didn't mean to freak you out," the green haired man said evenly, staring forward. "I went to Merry's that night because Lucci was supposed to be there, but he cancelled at the last minute."

Sanji remembered, because Lucci had planned to meet up with them then abruptly texted Ace to say he couldn't make it.

Well, that at least confirmed that Zoro wasn't actually stalking him.

"He was going to introduce me to you because I wanted to meet you formally."

Or maybe he was.

"Meet me formally?"

Zoro sighed, irritated. His head was throbbing and the ice wasn't helping. "I kept seeing you all those times at the rec. I used to come early enough to see you fight, and I thought you were really good. Then Saga got hurt, and I lost my sparring partner. Shuraiya's too busy, so I was gonna ask you. But then a month later you stopped showing up, and it took me a while to track you down. Well," he corrected himself, frowning, "I wasn't actually tracking you down. I'd given up on ever talking to you. I met Lucci, who turned out to be a really good sparring partner anyway."

"So why did you still want to meet me if Lucci was good enough?"

"Well, sort of a whim I guess. I was out with Lucci and Kaku one night and they mentioned your name, and I asked if it was you. I told them how I knew you and they offered to introduce me. You can't have too many sparring partners, and lately Lucci's been real off his game… Robin's got him real distracted. So we were supposed to meet up at Merry's that night. Then he didn't show up, and I saw you and your friends, and I kept trying to think of a good way to go over there – hence why I'd noticed that Marshall was creeping on you. The rest is history."

Well, that answered a lot of questions in a very normal way. Sanji felt pretty damn bad about it, but then, it _had_ all happened in such a weird way, he couldn't really blame himself for being a bit creeped out.

"So who the fuck is this Marshall guy? And really though, what is the deal with you and Robin? 'Cuz Lucci really is caught up, and you two... well, I gotta look out for my bartender."

Zoro snorted. "First, Marshall is a fucking creep and a sex offender who owns a dive in Queens. Lucci and I worked for him for about a week a few months ago – that's how we met – but once we realized he was seriously harassing some of the other customers and employees, we turned him in. The sick fuck got off on a technicality, but he's been out to get us ever since."

Sanji nodded, not sure what to say to that.

"And Robin and I are _not_ involved, never have been and never will be. What Lucci won't believe is that I spend most of my time defending him to her. She doesn't believe that he'd be good to her – _faithful_ to her - because his history is pretty fucking incriminating."

"Just doesn't look that way."

Zoro sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's none of your business, so I don't give a fuck what you think. Robin and I have been friends for years. She's like my sister and Lucci's fucking lucky that I even want him to date her."

The clock said 1 a.m. and Sanji was beginning to wonder what he should do. Zoro was now on the normal list – he even seemed like he might be a pretty decent guy – and he'd solved the mystery without needing the Mystery Machine van or Scooby Doo. But he had to get up and be to work by 6 am (he had several shipments coming in). He could change at work easily enough and he had his wallet and his cell on him. It wasn't really worth it to pay a taxi to take him all the way back to The Bronx when he was already in Manhattan.

"Look, since you're the one at fault here-"

"Oi-"

"-stay the night and wake me up once an hour until you gotta leave."

"Fuck, for real? I gotta be to work at 6 am."

Zoro sat up and blinked hard. "Yeah, well, I think I might have a secondary concussion. So just wake me up once an hour and ask me a few questions that we both know the answer to. If I slip into a coma, it'll be on your head."

Sanji huffed. "Fine."

Zoro went to a closet and pulled out a few blankets and turned off the lights in the kitchen. He tossed a blanket at Sanji and collapsed on the couch on the other wall.

Sanji pulled out his phone and set the alarm for one hour, hoping he would remember where he was when he woke up.

* * *

Zoro had managed to answer Sanji's questions satisfactorily on the hour every hour until 5 am. Sanji wondered if he would really be alright and almost thought about having Zoro call him later in the day to make sure. But for some reason that felt a little too much like mollycoddling, so he left it alone. He'd ask Lucci later.

* * *

It was Friday and the rush was hell on earth, so even if Ace had wanted to give him shit about it, neither of them had time to talk until they hit afternoon close an hour late at three thirty.

Sanji altered the events to make it as flattering to himself as possible, but that didn't change the fact that the entire day he'd been distracted. It's not like he cared about the guy or anything, but he really would feel bad if Zoro did slip into a coma. He should've taken the prick to the hospital…

Lucci walked in ten minutes early, and Sanji started in on him as soon as he walked in the door.

"You heard from Zo… ro…" he trailed off lamely as the green haired man followed Lucci in.

"Worried about me?" Zoro grinned.

Sanji snorted, wiping his hands on his apron. "I seem to recall it was you who said that if you fell into a coma, it'd be on my head."

The corner of Lucci's mouth twitched. "How sweet. He was worried."

"Shut the fuck up and do your inventory already."

Lucci swept past him and got behind the bar, pulling out a clip board and beginning to count bottles.

Zoro hesitated in the doorway.

"Hungry?" Sanji asked, pulling out a chair, indicating that Zoro should sit there.

"Actually-"

"Shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down. Carne!" Sanji turned on his heel and bellowed, "Warm up that Porterhouse!"

* * *

From then on, Zoro usually showed up whenever Sanji and the others went out somewhere, if not immediately, then within half an hour of his arrival. Lucci seemed to be texting a lot more these days too, Sanji noticed.

The company wasn't unwelcome, and Sanji found they did have a lot to talk about when it came to martial arts. Zoro studied kendo, but he'd dabbled here and there, and if Sanji knew about one thing, it was dabbling. The other man was keen on learning more about _savate_, too, which was a topic that always got Sanji pretty hyped up. They hadn't had the time to get together to spar though – Zoro had eventually gone to the hospital to get a CT scan (Sanji offered to pay, but Zoro assured him that he had really good insurance), and he wasn't supposed to participate at the rec center for a week. Then the next few weekends there were holes in the schedule at the Baratie – either someone didn't show up, or they were short staffed already because of vacations – so Sundays left Sanji completely dead and unmoving in his apartment.

On one such Sunday, however, he received a knock at the door at around 4 pm. This was highly unusual, since he knew Ace was out of town with Luffy (two more holes in the schedule), and no one else ever came to his apartment except Kathy, Dan and Stu – the delivery people from the three places he ordered food from.

He groaned as he pushed himself off the couch. His joints, no, his _everything_ ached, right down to the soles of his feet. He limped pathetically to the door in his pajama pants and nothing else. He looked through the peephole, but the asshole was obviously standing out of sight. He hated it when people did that.

He opened the door and Zoro was standing there in a very attractive ensemble of black slacks, a white shirt and a fitted vest. Attractive, that is, in the sense that Sanji could appreciate a man that knew how to dress. Not anything else.

"Uuuh," Sanji said, a little stunned. "Wha… um, what are you doing here?"

Zoro chuckled. "Can I come in?"

"Frankly?" Sanji asked, looking over his shoulder into his apartment, then back to Zoro. "No. My place is a wreck. This is Sunday, my dead day. My day to be… uh, dead. You'd probably get something on your nice outfit or something."

"Alright…" Zoro smiled and Sanji's stomach did that god damn flip flop thing again. He was gonna have to see the doctor about that at some point. "I just came by to invite you out. Well, not technically. Lucci told me to use force if I had to."

"No. I mean… what? Why? Lucci knows I don't go out on Sundays until past 10 pm."

"They got together."

Sanji blinked, then realized by 'they', Zoro meant Lucci and Robin. His confusion broke away to a big grin. "No shit? So, wait, what does that have to do with it?"

"They're having a celebration dinner. Everyone's invited. And what Lucci wants, Lucci gets, so you should probably hop in the shower."

Sanji sighed and dropped his head. If he skipped out on this, he'd be dead. His whole body ached and all he wanted to do was watch the No Reservations marathon, but Zoro was right.

"Alright… do you wanna go ahead without me?"

"I'll wait. I brought my car."

Sanji sighed heavily and let Zoro in, kicking clothes and books out of the way. He cleared off a spot on his couch.

"Just… don't move around too much."

He took a shower in record speed and wrapped himself in a towel for the trip from the bathroom, across the living room, to his room.  
Unfortunately Zoro was wearing almost exactly the same outfit he would have chosen for such an occasion. He hollered from his bedroom, "Where are we going?"

"15 East."

That caught Sanji's attention. It was a somewhat new sushi place run by an up and coming sushi chef. He'd been wanting to go, but hadn't had the time or the occasion.

He 'settled' for a cream, long sleeve, super low neck Henley shirt, and his pride and joy, the suit he'd only ever pulled out for his interview at the Baratie and when he went to Skypeia the same night Jessica Alba was rumored to be there; his black Pringle of Scotland suit, straight off the fall line. It cost him more than the Armani pants Zoro had been wearing at Water 7 that time, and that was all he would say.

The best thing? You could go casual with it, or insanely formal – either way. He slapped on a silver linked belt, grabbed his watch and was ready to go.

* * *

It seemed like everyone was there – Jyabura, Brook, Saga, Shuraiya, Franky, most of the Baratie staff, hell _Coby_ was there. They'd taken up the entire bar and some tables. Vivi was there too, which surprised him. She had a irritated look on her face, but she was sitting next to Robin, so he assumed they must have worked something out. Lucci was sitting on the other side of Robin, looking no less stoic than he normally did, but his hand was linked with Robin's, their fingers interweaving.

They received cheerful hellos and waves, and Lucci nodded to two open seats across from him and Robin. Sanji frowned as Zoro took the seat next to Nami and across from Robin, but didn't say anything.

"Thanks for coming. I know it's your day off."

"Heh, you're one of the few people I'd go out on Dead Day for anyway."

"Is that the Pringles suit?"

"Like the chip?" Zoro asked.

Sanji snorted. "No, and it's the _Pringle of Scotland_ suit."

"I didn't know you knew anything about fashion stuff," Zoro said to Lucci as he waved down a waiter.

"I don't, but the jerk made me go with him when he bought it. He almost cried when he handed over his credit card. I thought he was going to wet himself."

"It was an expensive commitment, alright? Three month's rent at my place costs less than what I paid for this thing. And Jessica _did_ smile at me that night, so it was worth it. Besides," he looked at Zoro, "you look like you know how to dress yourself."

Robin laughed. "Every decent article of clothing he owns is due to _my_ influence. I even had to label everything so he knew what went with what. Otherwise he'd walk around in a ratty t-shirt and jeans all the time."

"I just tried to make myself scare whenever she handed my credit card to the cashier. I didn't want to know. I still don't."

That explained the Armani jeans, then. And probably the décor at his flat, too, now that the chef thought about it.

Sanji ordered the most expensive thing on the menu straight out – the seven course sushi meal, and some high grade sake. Saga and Shuraiya came over from the bar to chat while they waited for the food to come out.

"You're skipping the rec again," Shuraiya, perpetually with the scowl, lectured.

"Work's been hell and I gotta make a living," Sanji shrugged. "But if it makes you feel any better, I do reps twice a day now."

"Lift up your shirt."

"No, man, this isn't Water 7, it's a _civilized_ joint and there are _ladies_ present."

"Nothing anyone here hasn't seen already," Lucci said, his mouth twitching. "Except Robin, and I have no worries that your flab is going to impress her."

"Yeah, come on, Sanji," Nami winked. Vivi smiled next to her and nodded. He received a few more encouraging cheers from his staff, particularly Franky.

Zoro stifled a laugh and Saga whistled. "You gotta put up now, man."

Sanji rolled his eyes. There weren't any customers besides them that he could see, and the wait staff was entirely male. Besides, any chance to show off his sculpted abs to Nami and Vivi was a chance he was going to take. He stood up and lifted his shirt.

"See? See?" He showed left, then right. "Happy? Good." He sat back down.

Shuraiya snorted. "Wow, congrats, it's not as flabby as it was three weeks ago. Here, have some more liquor and go smoke some more cigarettes-"

"Man, you seriously are worse than the old man," Sanji grinned, shaking his head.

Robin smiled. "I think they looked very defined, Sanji. You must work very hard."

"Oh, well, you know. It's nothing. When you're as fit as I am-"

"Oh god, shut him up someone. Look, here's the food."

The dinner was delicious, the company was good, his bartender was probably as content as he was ever going to be… Life was pretty good, even if he was out on his Dead Day.

But, he knew his limits. When they all started making plans to meet up at the Merry later, he turned them down, looking cautiously at Lucci who didn't seem to have a problem with it. He needed sleep. The aspirin he'd popped earlier was starting to wear off. The only thing he wasn't looking forward to was the ride back to The Bronx, especially if Zoro needed him to take the subway. Even in Zoro's car though, it was a 40 minute ride, and he was ready to drop.

"What about you Zoro? You don't have to bounce tonight, you coming?" Jyabura asked, throwing his arm around Kaku, who rolled his eyes.

"Nah, I got a class at the rec tomorrow."

Someone chuckled and muttered, "Shyeah, you mean _Sanji's_ not coming." That was followed up by a thump, an "Ouch!" and a vehement "Shut up, asshole!".

Sanji didn't know who'd said it, but he saw Zoro's jaw clench, and his ears got noticeably pinker.

Everyone got _real_ quiet.

It was silent for a split second before Saga said, "Yeah, you've been switched to the early class, huh?"

Zoro grabbed his keys. "If you want a ride, I'm leaving now."

The green haired man stalked out of the restaurant. Sanji stood there, stuck somewhere in a growing sense of awkwardness and hesitance.

"Go with him," Lucci said simply.

"Right," Sanji said. "Thanks for inviting me, the meal was great, congrats you two, see most of you bastards – and my lovely ladies, of course – at work tomorrow."

After he left, Lucci turned around and pinned the culprit, Carne, with a cold glare. Nami was the one who had kicked him and told him to shut up. Her glare might have been worse than Lucci's.

* * *

Sanji's sense of perspective was spiraling quickly. He kept thinking of weird things, weird things that skewed the facts that he thought he knew. He remembered how Ace had said Zoro didn't like going to clubs on his time off, yet there he'd been almost every night for the last three weeks, showing up wherever Sanji was. And how even though they were so close, he'd never date Robin. And how forgiving he'd been of Sanji's shitty attitude.

He could tell Zoro was _pissed_. Maybe Sanji was just thinking too much, and it was just that Zoro didn't know how to take a joke. It could all be coincidence, and someone had just said something they thought was funny.

They pulled up to his apartment after an excruciatingly quiet ride. Zoro put the car in park but kept the engine running.

"Thanks for the-"

"Whatever the worst scenario is that you're thinking, it's right."

Sanji swallowed. Okay.

"So… You're gay and everything that's happened up until now has been your attempt to get with me?"

Zoro stared straight ahead. Sanji could see his jaw clenching again. "Yeah, that's right."

Sanji nodded to no one in particular.

After a moment, he said, "I… am not gay."

Zoro chuckled and shook his head. Sanji got the impression that he wasn't in the least bit amused.

"I know that."

"Okay. I don't- I'm not- I'm cool with you. I'm flattered, I guess. But we're friends and… I'm just not into guys."

Zoro's knuckles were white they were gripping the steering wheel so hard.

Sanji sighed. "Look, I don't want you to be mad at me or anything. I know it fucking sucks to get shot down, I've been there. A lot. So I know how it feels, and I don't want you to feel shitty like that. I can't really say anything to make you feel better, but at least… just… don't worry about it."

Zoro released the steering wheel and took a deep breath. "I didn't mean for you to find out like that. I'm not a creep or anything-"

"I know-"

"I wasn't even sure I was ever gonna tell you-"

"It's fine-"

"I'll… stay away if you want."

Sanji frowned. "No, I think I made it clear that I don't want that. I better see your sorry ass the next time we all go out. You better show up at the Baratie for lunch some time this week. If you don't and you start avoiding me, I know where you live, and I'm pretty sure Lucci could get me a key to your place in under 20 fucking minutes."

Sanji unbuckled his seatbelt. "I'm serious Zoro. We still haven't gotten to spar, we're still cool. Alright?"

Zoro frowned. Sanji punched him in the arm, hard. "_Alright_ asshole?"

The green haired man scowled at Sanji and rubbed his arm. "Alright."

"Alright." Sanji got out of the car. "I'm serious. Don't fucking disappear on me."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

Sanji wanted to fire Carne _so_ bad. Unfortunately he was a damn good employee, and had been working for the Baratie since Zeff was the head chef. But that didn't stop Sanji from wielding his cooking knives threateningly, trying to trip him as he walked by, and giving him the stink eye.

"ALRIGHT ALREADY! I SAID I WAS SORRY!" Carne finally roared in his own defense. Sanji stuck his pinky in his ear and wiggled it around.

"Anybody hear something?"

In unison the other cooks answered, "No, chef!"

Carne sighed, resigned to the treatment until Sanji felt like he'd gotten what he deserved.

When Lucci came in, Sanji was surprised to receive the same cold glare from him that he'd been giving Carne. But when he thought about it, he supposed it made sense. If no one else, Lucci had to have known. Pretty much everyone else seemed disappointed, but they didn't hold it against him. But it was then that he realized just how out of the loop he'd been. It seemed like everyone that knew Zoro, knew. And, it seemed, they'd been rooting for him.

He wondered… Saga probably knew, and Shuraiya by proxy. They'd most likely understand, too.

He turned out to be somewhat wrong on that assumption.

Zoro had showed up for beers at Water 7 on Wednesday (Sanji didn't know why they were ever allowed back), and had lunch with Robin (who, even if she was displeased with Sanji, managed to hide it well) at the Baratie on Friday. They made tentative plans to meet up at the rec on Sunday at 3 pm if Saturday wasn't too terrible at the restaurant, and Sanji felt up to it.

With the state of things as they currently were, Sanji would have made himself go no matter what. But Saturday had been dismally slow, so he was well rested on Sunday and showed up at the rec at two thirty pm, where he received a downright aggressive greeting from Shuraiya, and a disappointed one from Saga.

"You guys, what the fuck was I supposed to do? I _don't do guys_. Just because he's a good guy doesn't mean I should just change up my sexual orientation for him! I feel bad, I do, but I'm not gonna go gay just 'cuz he's interested!"

"You just don't know how long he's been into you," Saga said, frowning. "I mean, I can't guilt you into dating him, but I still think you should give him a chance."

"Come on, Shuraiya, level with me here. Say Saga suddenly confessed that he had feelings for you. He's a good looking guy, he's a nice guy, does that mean – even though you're straight – that you have to date him because you feel sorry for him?"

Shuraiya raised an eyebrow. "You are the most god damn clueless mother fucker I have ever met. It's like you get dumber every fucking day."

Sanji looked at Saga, confused as hell. "What the hell?"

Saga was equally confused, but it was aimed at Sanji.

"Sanji, we- Shuraiya and I…" They looked at each other, Shuraiya rolling his eyes and Saga at a loss for words.

"What?" Sanji screeched. "When the hell did this happen? Why does this shit keep happening without me knowing?"

"Keep your voice down, dick head. The kids'll think something's wrong," Shuraiya snapped.

"Well, it happened a few months after my accident. Shuraiya helped me with my depression. I mean… I thought it was pretty obvious, but you know… you weren't here anymore. I don't go around telling anyone, but I don't hide it either."

Sanji's head swam.

"Dense," was all Shuraiya said.

Apparently he wasn't going to get any sympathy here.

When Zoro showed up they went to one of the unused gym rooms and laid out some mats. They both took a few minutes to put on hand, elbow, knee and ankle wraps and did a few preliminary stretches.

"So you're good with hand to hand?" Sanji said, noticing a lack of kendo equipment, and the fact that Zoro was just wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts.

"Yeah."

They squared off, Sanji feeling slightly nervous. He'd seen Zoro in action before – the fight at Skypeia. He knew those arms packed a lot of power, so his goal was not to get close enough to get pinned. If Zoro got more than a few good hits in to the stomach, he'd be down. On the other hand, Sanji didn't quite know where best to attack Zoro. The head, obviously, but they were just sparring. The ribs and the solar plexus maybe, get him tripped up then pin him with his legs, which was where the bulk of Sanji's power was. Or just wear him out, but that meant that Sanji would have to have more stamina than Zoro, and he just wasn't sure of that yet.

"You gonna size me up all day or are you gonna take a hit?"

Sanji ducked in low and grinned. Speed was one thing he had on Zoro, if anything, and he was going to use it. He stepped past Zoro's right side with his left food, feigning coming straight in, pivoted on that same foot and brought his knee slamming back around into Zoro's back. Zoro grunted and stumbled forward a few feet but recovered otherwise almost as if nothing had happened. He snatched Sanji's arm and did exactly as Sanji feared – tossing him over his back and onto the mat. If it turned into a grappling match, Sanji would lose very quickly if he didn't have the upper hand, so he yanked free of Zoro's grip and scrambled back a few feet, clambering to stand up. But Zoro was unrelenting and in his face immediately after, going in to wrap his arms around Sanji's waist.

Sanji kneed him in the chest a good four or five times before he decided to do something slightly risky – he pushed with all his strength against Zoro, causing Zoro to topple back a few feet, jumped up slightly and trapped Zoro's ribs between his knees and pinched _hard_. Zoro's reaction was what he thought it would be – he wrapped his arms around Sanji's hips to bring him slamming down into the mat again, but before he could, Sanji slammed both his elbows full force into Zoro's shoulders.

Zoro cursed and dropped to his knees, and Sanji jammed his forearm into Zoro's neck, knocking the green haired man on his back.

From there it spiraled into sucker punches, petty hits, and a lot of rolling around on the floor.

He would later vehemently deny that he tried to _bite_ the other man. Zoro's hand had just somehow managed to lodge itself in his mouth. That was all.


	3. Chapter 3

It was now August – a month and a half since the incident with Teach at the Merry. Sanji had decided after visiting Zoro's apartment that he now wanted to move out of squalor, so with Robin's help, he found a nice flat in Manhattan, just a ten minute cab ride from The Baratie. If he was lucky, he'd never have to go back to The Bronx again. It wasn't in a historical district like Zoro's, it wasn't as [i]awesome[/i] as Zoro's, but it was a hell of a lot better than the rat hole he'd been living in.

It was pricey, but not more than he could afford. Sanji was frugal in a choosey way, and it meant that he had plenty of money in the bank to play around when he wanted, as long as he didn't go out and buy something stupid everyday, which he didn't really have time for. Most of the clubs and bars he went to he got free drinks at, so he never spent ridiculous amounts on alcohol. And he could afford to feed himself ridiculously high quality food at The Baratie under their budget. Quality control and all that. Part of the job and such.

And, as it happened, he'd just gotten a raise. He almost wanted to turn it down – for what he was doing, he seriously was getting paid too much. But he knew the old man would find [i]some[/i] way to take it as an insult, so he kept his mouth shut.  
Robin had offered to go shopping with him that Sunday to decorate the place (the furniture had already been purchased online and delivered), and he was happy to accept the help.

They went to Saks Fifth Avenue for his server ware and kitchen accessories, and it was then that he learned very quickly that it was simply best to either agree or disagree with a suggestion, hand Robin the credit card, then find himself far away from the counter when she made their purchases.

Zoro could have told him this, of course.

Then they hit Bloomingdale's, Macy's, and then last the Bouley Market for groceries for dinner. Thankfully, Robin owned a car with sufficient storage space, but they'd had to arrange to have some things delivered.

They were both a bit tired from all the shopping when they arrived at his place, so he poured a couple of glasses of wine before he started dinner in earnest.

"I think it's going to look amazing." Robin accepted the glass and smiled.

"Thanks to you. I have no design sense, whatsoever."

"Oh, you know what looks good, you just don't know where to get it. It'll be nice when your sound system arrives. That was an amazing deal."

Sanji laughed, his stomach quivering a little at the memory. He'd spent more money today than he ever had before, and though technically the sound system had been a good deal, it was still painfully expensive.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to be able to relax with that on Dead Days. And now I don't have to cringe whenever someone comes over. It's not as nice as Zoro's, but I daresay it will suffice."

Robin smiled again and sipped on her wine.

"So how are things with you and my always-smiling bartender?" He got up and decided to start hauling the kitchen bags into the kitchen.

"Very good."

Sanji bit his lip as he started taking dishes out of the boxes. "He still mad at me?"

Robin swirled the wine in her glass. "I think it isn't as simple as him being angry at you. He considers you to be one of his closer friends. He simply wasn't happy with the situation."

She joined him in the kitchen and started opening the cooking ware boxes. Even though he was a chef, his own cooking ware collection was pathetic. Mostly he fed himself at The Baratie and ordered take out when he was home because he didn't have the energy to cook. All the more reason to spend and unknown (at least, unknown to [i]him[/i], and he hoped Robin never told him) amount of money on a very high quality set.

"I tried to explain to him."

"I know."

"What do you think?"

"I think Zoro is my best friend in the world, and I've been with him every step of this situation. Of course I am sympathetic to his pain. But I know how you feel." She smiled sadly. "I kept asking Zoro before I accepted Lucci's feelings if he thought I should have feelings for him just because everyone else believed his feelings for me were sincere. I thought that was unfair. In the end though, I realized I was just making excuses. No matter if it might have hurt Vivi, my feelings for Lucci were there and it wasn't making anyone happy to deny them. I thought I could never be with a man like Lucci based on principles, but I was lying to myself."

Sanji grabbed the silverware box and filled the sink with soapy water to wash the silverware in.

"Is he okay?" he leaned against the sink

"Zoro?" Robin asked.

Sanji nodded. "I mean, we see each other all the time now. It's like nothing ever happened. But I only see that side."

Robin looked at the counter. "He… he's glad that you didn't push him away. But in some ways it's almost more painful for him, having to be around you all the time while knowing that he can't be with you. And he has so much respect for you, he doesn't want to push. But by no means have his feelings changed."

Sanji sighed and rinsed the silverware. "I went a few weeks without thinking about it, then Saga bitched me out the other day for being an insensitive asshole. He said I'm stringing him along."

Robin frowned. "I think Saga is very sensitive to Zoro's situation, because he's been in similar situations himself. And he is very close to Zoro. I don't think you're doing anything inappropriate. The fact that you care enough to ask about him means that you're a decent person. I suppose... we all wish there was something that you saw in Zoro, some inkling to give him a chance. But you can't deny your inherent nature, and we know that. It's just frustrating to watch."

Sanji placed the silverware on a towel to dry and sighed, his brow creasing. "It isn't as though if I were gay, that I'd turn him down. He's a good guy – good looking, successful, probably someone I would be interested in if I were into guys… We get along, even when we're beating the crap out of each other sparring. I don't get what it is about me that he's so into. This is New York. Probably the city with the highest per capita of gay men in the world."

Robin laughed. "I felt the same way. Lucci could have gotten any woman he wanted… But he insisted on me."

Sanji rubbed the back of his neck. Everything had been fine until Saga suddenly jumped all over him. He'd been feeling seriously guilty since then, and he didn't know why. Saga almost made it sound like it was reasonable to at least go on a date with the guy. That it was the least Sanji could do. But if anything, the chef felt like that [i]would[/i] constitute stringing Zoro along.

"Don't let what Saga said bother you. I do sincerely wish things had turned out differently. Zoro really is the most amazing man I know," she smiled and winked. "Don't tell Lucci."

Sanji smiled and nodded.

"But that doesn't mean you have to beat yourself up about it."

Once the plates and silverware had been cleaned, Sanji started warming up the brand new cookware. He was going to make Coq au vin tonight, so he refilled Robin's wine glass, set out a platter of cheese for her, and started cutting the lardons into thin strips. They chatted about other things as he boiled the strips and sautéed them. He diced carrots, onions, and celery, and minced garlic to cook briefly with the chicken, then he added the wine and stock, seasoning with salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf. He threw a loaf of French bread in the oven.

When the vegetables were done, he strained them out and returned the sauce to the chicken, adding pearl onions for the final fifteen minutes. He whipped up a quick roux to thicken the sauce and set out two bowls and a platter for the bread.  
He divvied out the portions and set them on his lovely new table. Then, looking at Robin, he wiggled his eyebrows and pulled out a candle, setting it on the table and lighting it.

"Romantic, no?"

Robin laughed and nodded. "Yes, very smooth, very smooth."

He sat down. "You're sure Lucci doesn't mind me borrowing you for so long?"

"He has to bounce tonight at Skypeia, and he had plans to spend the day with Kaku."

Sanji nodded.

"Don't worry. He'll cool down eventually. He knows you're a good man."

Sanji sighed and tested the chicken. Brilliant, as usual. "That's something I never understood; if he knew that Zoro was interested in me, why was he so worried about you and Zoro?"

Robin might have rolled her eyes just then, but not quite. The sentiment was the same, however.

"He was… stupid. And Zoro has dated women before, so I assume he was insecure about that. Eventually he just had to trust that we didn't have feelings for each other."

"He's dated women?"

"It was a long time ago, really. He could go either way, it just depends on the person. The real point is, though, that Zoro just doesn't fall for people easily at all. It takes a rare and special person to get him to come out of his shell. If he had it his way, he'd work and train, work and train. This is the most social I have ever known him to be."

They continued to eat quietly for the most part, Sanji heavy in his contemplation. Robin loved the meal and decided that he should cook for her more often. She was a decent cook, but Lucci couldn't go near a kitchen – which explained why Sanji never saw him in the back at The Baratie.

After their third glass of wine, Robin decided to call a cab instead of driving. She'd be by his apartment sometime later to pick up her car. While they waited by the door, Sanji finally hmphed and said, "Should I?"

Robin raised a delicate eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

Sanji leaned against the door, letting his head fall back against it with a thud. "It's just that Saga and even you almost make it sound like I'm being unreasonable for not even going on a date with him."

"Sanji, that isn't what I meant. It isn't, really. I mean, it isn't unreasonable, but if you don't feel comfortable, if you [i]know[/i] without a doubt that nothing would come of it, or even worse, Zoro would end up worse than he is, then you shouldn't even think about it."

Sanji scrunched his eyes closed. "What if I'm not sure? I used to be []very[/i] sure, and I can't tell if it's guilt or pity or… something."

Robin sighed. The cab pulled up and honked.

"I don't know what to say Sanji. But whatever you decide, please proceed carefully. When it gets to be too much, Zoro has been known to just shut down and shut everyone out. And I don't want that to happen. Just be honest with yourself."

Sanji opened the door for her and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you Robin."

"Thank you for the wonderful meal. I'll call you tomorrow about the car."

* * *

Friday was a bad day. He'd had two supplies orders fucked up by his suppliers, and he'd spent a good 45 minutes apiece screaming bloody murder at them over the phone to get here with the shit he was missing or there would be hell to pay. This put him way behind schedule, and he was just grateful everyone had shown up to work on time that day. But there had been a group of 12 people who came in all wanting to order off the menu, and Zeff had called ahead to tell Sanji that he'd better do it if he valued his job.  
He managed to slice his hand real good, so that put him out for a good ten minutes while he waited for it to stop bleeding long enough for Ace to butterfly bandage it.

Lucci was still being shitty to him, he'd gotten into a shouting match with Carne that had almost turned violent, and to top it off, two of the waiters had quit by the end of the night.

Then he realized that he'd completely forgotten that Zoro and Franky were supposed to come over to his new place to help wire his sound system and set up the entertainment center.

But, if he looked at it from the bright side, Zoro was there at closing time to give him a ride home, so he didn't have to call a cab.

He fell asleep on the ride home.

"You sure you wanna do this tonight, boss? It's totally supa to do it tomorrow if you want," Franky reached forward from the back seat and squeezed his shoulder.

"No," he croaked out. "I want it done by tomorrow so I can sit in front of the TV without ever moving so I can watch the first three seasons of No Reservations. I'm tempted to get a bed pan."

They laughed and headed up to Sanji's apartment, Sanji limping behind pathetically.

"Did you hurt yourself tonight or something?" Zoro asked.

"No, my feet just ache like a mother fucker after work. I didn't bring aspirin with me today either."

Sanji let them in and promptly fell face forward onto his couch. He flopped his arm at the pile of boxes and said, "Have at it. Booze and food in the fridge, help yourselves."

And Sanji was out.

He woke up to his arm being shaken.

The lights were still on in his apartment and Zoro was still there. He blinked, looking blearily over at his entertainment center. "Man, what time is it?"

"3 am I think. We got everything set up, Franky got a ride from a friend about an hour ago. He has a thing in the morning. But it's all set up."

Sanji rubbed his eyes and sat up, his feet automatically starting to throb again. Somewhere along the line his shoes had disappeared, and a blanket had been thrown over him.

"Thanks. I'm sorry I passed out like that. Was it too hard?"

"No." Zoro sat on the edge of the coffee table. "Franky knew what he was doing. I just provided the extra hands. I just wanted to wake you up so you'd go to your bed before I left."

Sanji nodded, his head still fuzzy from sleep. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I have my class at nine, then nothing."

"Come over then," Sanji yawned and stood up, cringing as his feet screamed at him. "I'm making dinner. Around six."

"Alright. Get some sleep."

* * *

When Sanji woke up around noon the next day, it took him until around two thirty or so to remember that he'd invited Zoro over. He panicked and started cleaning – not that the house was a mess [i]yet[/i], but there were still packing boxes, he hadn't put the new bedding on his new bed, he needed to sweep the place and wipe the kitchen down, and finally put all his new cookware on the hanging rack.

It was enough to keep him busy until three or so, when he realized that he didn't really have anything interesting to cook. He had a few bare ingredients, but he'd have to go to the store. He still needed to do laundry too, so he threw a load in, jumped in the shower (not a smart idea, he quickly realized), put on possibly his last clean outfit, stuffed the clothes in the dryer and called a cab.

It wasn't until he had filled two carts full of groceries that he realized that this was [i]not[/i] how he had intended to spend his Dead Day. Instead, he was running around like crazy trying to put together a - wait… a date? Was this what he was doing? Did Zoro think that this was what he was doing?

What [i]was[/i] he doing?

He was in the check out line when he got a text from Zoro.

'Who all is coming. Should I bring something.'

Sanji rubbed his face and cursed inwardly. He hadn't invited anyone else, but Zoro was expecting other people. If he showed up and no one else was there, he'd think it was weird. But he didn't know if anyone could make it last minute…

He decided to wing it and go nonchalant.

'Just u n me n anthony bourdain. no one else could make it.'

He didn't get another text back until he was loading the millionth grocery bag into the irritated cab driver's trunk.

'Cool. Will bring booze.'

When he got home he switched out the laundry and started throwing shit in his fridge. Steak and frites would more than suffice, so he threw together the seasonings for the fries and meat and got to business. At 5:40 he swapped out the laundry again – his last load, thank fucking god – and changed into something that didn't look like he'd just put on his last clean outfit.  
His heart was hammering in his chest as he looked at himself in the mirror. He had no idea what the hell he was doing. Zoro didn't know that this was a date. It wasn't a date. Sanji had not asked Zoro to come over as a date. He was just thanking him for setting up his equipment. He lit a cigarette and went out to the living room, putting on possibly the only thing that could calm him at this point – Anthony Bourdain.

Maybe he shouldn't have changed. Maybe if he were wearing sweats or something, Zoro definitely wouldn't think Sanji was trying. Well, he was only wearing jeans and a fitted black shirt. He sighed heavily and took one of his bare feet in his hands, kneading it. He would be calm. He would be calm. He was just spending time with the guy.

His phone started ringing. It was Lucci.

"Hello," Sanji said, wondering what Lucci wanted.

"You're having dinner with Zoro."

Sanji waited for him to continue, but apparently that was all Lucci wanted to say.

"Yes? How'd you know?"

"He came over to pick up his Sam Adams Utopia bottle."

"Oh." Utopia was easily $100 right there, and it was rumored they limited production to 8,000 a year, so it was likely to have cost much more than that. "Okay."

Again, Lucci didn't say anything else. "Did… did you need to tell me something?"

"Watch your back- ow! No! I-"

Sanji heard some scuffling and it sounded like the phone dropped.

"Hello? Lucci? What's-"

"Ah? Sanji? This is Robin. Don't listen to Lucci. You two enjoy yourselves. Have a good night."

The other end of the line went dead and Sanji could only look at his phone incredulously. Had Lucci just [i]threatened[/i] him?  
Before he could speculate any further, there was a knock at his door and his blood pressure went right back up. Sucking on his cigarette in hopes that he'd suddenly inhale some magic cure-all for his current situation, he opened the door.

"Fuck it smells good in here," Zoro said stepping in. "What are you cooking?"

"Streak and frites. Do you seriously have a bottle of Utopia?"

Zoro grinned and held the box that contained the brass bottle up. "The 2007 vintage. How'd you know?"

"Just got a call from Lucci." Sanji shut the door behind him and padded into the kitchen. Zoro followed.

"What'd he want?"

"Ah… he needed to come in late some time next week."

Sanji pulled the steaks out to see if they were done.

"The place looks good. Looks like Robin did it."

"Shyeah. And boy did she. I took your advice after the first purchase and stayed the fuck away from the check out."

Zoro grinned and nodded.

"So why did you bring that? I bet that shit's hard to come by and fucking expensive. Any other Sam Adams would've been fine."

Zoro shrugged. "Yeah, but you're a cook and I figured since you've been to France, I should up the ante. And you know, new place and all that."

Sanji shrugged too. "Alright. I've been wanting to try it. If you wanna waste really expensive booze on me, I won't fight you on it. But save it for after. There's cold beer in the fridge."

They ate out in the living room with feet propped up on the coffee table. Zoro had never watched Anthony Bourdain before, and quickly became a fan. He was also quick to point out similarities between the two chefs.

They stuffed themselves full of frites until Sanji had none left over.

It wasn't until they'd finished eating and were nursing their food comas on the couch that Sanji realized the instant Zoro had stepped in the door, he'd stopped freaking out.

Which made him freak out. He got up and picked up their dishes, setting them to soak in dish water. He stood in the kitchen for a minute before Zoro said, "I brought the glasses for the Utopia if you want to use them."

Sanji opened the box carefully and pulled out the glasses. He wiped them down and then poured them about a quarter full each.  
It wasn't a big deal. Just go chill out on the couch. Relax. It was fine four minutes ago, it was fine now, he told himself.

He brought the glasses in the living room and reclaimed his spot.

"You're gonna dig this shit, I promise," Zoro assured him. Sanji grinned. They raised their glasses and the chef took a sip.

[i]Whoa[/i]. This tasted [i]nothing[/i] like beer.

"Yeah?" Zoro grinned. "I know. Its more like cognac or sherry."

"God that's got a hot bite. It's like… vanilla and… honey, maybe some maple, toffee. Wow."

They slipped on it slowly, letting a light buzz set in from the three or four beers they'd each already had.

"Man, I think Shangri-la is steak, frites, Sam Adams and Anthony whats-his-name."

"Bourdain. And I couldn't agree more."

* * *

A particularly loud laugh coming from the television made Sanji jerk out of his mostly dozing state. He looked over, and Zoro was completely out.

Sanji reached for the remote and took a minute trying to find the button to turn it all off. He stood up and held in a curse. He hadn't remembered to take any aspirin today, and he'd been running around for most of Dead Day. He had to see about getting some better shoes or something.

He bent his knees and bit his lip, his hands clutching his thighs as he waited for the pain to diminish.

"You okay?" He looked over and Zoro had woken up.

Sanji gave up and plopped back on the couch. "Yeah, just my feet. S'why I usually don't move on Dead Day. Feet can't take it."

Zoro sat up and stretched. "What time is it?"

Sanji flipped open his cell phone. "10:45."

The green haired man grunted and patted his thigh. "Put your feet up here."

"Uh… I'm good."

"C'mon, it's nothing weird. You get fifteen minutes of the best foot massage your sorry ass will ever have."

If he had asked or said it in any differently, Sanji wouldn't have complied, but he thought resisting anymore at this point would make it uncomfortable, so he scooched back and swung one foot up on the couch.

Zoro cracked his knuckles and rubbed his hands together, and Sanji rolled his eyes. The next fifteen minutes were a fiery hell.  
On the one hand, he'd never had a foot massage at all (except self administered ones), so he couldn't really gauge if better ones existed in the world – though he doubted it. He [i]wanted[/i] to melt right into the couch, but it felt too good, and it made him want to squirm in weird ways and make noises – and [i]that[/i] was the hellish part. Keeping quiet and not moving. As Zoro's thumbs pressed into the soles of his feet, sliding expertly from the heel to the ball of his foot and out, then down the sides, then enveloping the circumference of his foot with both hands and squeezing firmly, sliding up then down and-

He tried not to think about how much it was like a hand job.

And then there were the times were Zoro's hands hit a ticklish spot and he jerked, and Zoro would grin at him and chuckle. And that floppy thing in his stomach was now happening about every three seconds.

By the time Zoro was done, Sanji's feet felt much better, but he was beginning to wonder if jumping out of his window from four stories up was a reasonable idea. He let out a breath of relief and Zoro patted the foot he'd been working on and released it.

"It wasn't that bad," he stood up. "And if it was, call it pay back for biting me."

"I didn't [i]bite[/i] you, you shoved your hand in my mouth."

"Mmhm," Zoro nodded. "Well, I know you've got work, so I'm gonna split."

Sanji nodded. "Don't forget your Utopia."

Zoro put the box back together. "Thanks again for dinner."

"No problem. You and Franky helped me out a lot with this thing." He nodded at the entertainment center. "Suppose I oughta feed him sometime too."

"Lucci's at Skypeia tomorrow night, I think there are plans to meet up. You coming?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. See ya tomorrow."

* * *

All in all, Sanji felt content with what happened on Sunday, and that was just another reason to freak out. Lucci didn't work at The Baratie that day, so he had no way of gauging the situation from the bartender's reaction. He was halfway expecting some hired hit goon to meet him in an alleyway with some blunt object, but nothing like that had happened yet.

He kept wondering if he should tell Ace about it, but he didn't know how he was gonna start that conversation.

'So, yeah, I might be thinking about wanting to date Zoro.'

It just made no fucking sense. When had he gone from no to maybe? When had he gone from no-maybe to maybe-maybe? Why was he even entertaining the notion?

It was now two thirty, and Sanji had just gotten up the balls to call Ace out back and spill the situation to him when the Baratie manager, Kalifa, came in.

"When you have a moment Sanji, I need to speak to you in your office."

Kalifa was a somewhat severe woman – unearthly beauty, highly intelligent, cruel in a way that was perfect for running a business. She was the type that just barely tolerated anyone, so it was difficult for Sanji to shower her with affection and praise like other women. She just didn't have the patience for it.

He barked at Gin to pick up where he'd left off on the soup he was working on and followed her back to his office.

She closed the door behind her when they got in and sat down across from his desk.

"What can I do for my lovely manager today?" Sanji smiled and sat down in the ratty chair that had molded so well to his form over the last eight months.

"How are you doing Sanji? Do you like it here at The Baratie?"

Shit. Shit shit shit. What had he done? What had happened? He couldn't think of any major mistake he'd made in the last eight months. He'd never called in sick, always worked full days, his staff got along, they'd done better business since he became head chef-

"I can see that you're about to hyperventilate, so I would like to assure you that you aren't in any trouble."

He laughed, if only at himself. "Uh, then, yes, I love it here. I think my staff and I are doing pretty well. I mean, I've only got about three trustworthy waiters, but at any place I've ever worked, I've been hard pressed to find one, so I think we're ahead of the game."

Kalifa nodded. "Zeff and I have been discussing it over the last several weeks, and he has a lot of good things to say about you. You're the hardest working man he's ever hired, you're trustworthy, you're a brilliant chef, you know how to run a kitchen blindfolded. The raise he gave you recently was… given with what I'm about to tell you now in mind. You see, we're very impressed with your stamina – 17 hour days, six days a week for eight months, and you never so much as called in for a cold. You haven't needed or asked for any time off. It's truly amazing. However, it isn't quite what Zeff has in mind for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I wasn't necessarily given any reason other than Zeff doesn't want you to burn out, and at this rate, we expect you probably will within the next few years. He'd like you to stick around for a very long time, so we are going to cut your work week down."

Sanji's stomach twisted.

"Zeff isn't going to come back and work those other days, is he? He's supposed to be retired-"

"No, we've been interviewing other chefs for the last month."

Other chefs. They were going to hire someone else because he couldn't fucking do his job. Or at least they [i]thought[/i] he couldn't do his job.

"To be honest, Kalifa… I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm perfectly happy with the schedule I've got, and splitting a kitchen up between two chefs… I mean, Zeff probably understands. It's likely that we'd have two very different ways of running things, and who would be in charge of the menus and specials-"

"I'm afraid it isn't really something up for debate. However, we anticipated that you might have these concerns. Technically, our new hire will be your sous-chef-"

He didn't want to argue with a lovely woman like Kalifa, he really didn't, but he couldn't help but interrupt, "Gin is my sous-chef-"

"And Gin, though a valued employee, has a history of not showing up sometimes. We can't afford to have that fault in a head chef or a sous-chef here. You will maintain the title and authority of head chef, the menu will be completely up to you, as will be the specials. This new chef won't even be allowed to make supply orders until you deem she's fit-"

"She?" Oh God. Sanji scrubbed at his face. Not that he thought women were any less capable, but women capable of making it in a kitchen like the veritable puss bucket of bad manners, lewd language and even borderline sexual harassment that was The Baratie... they were a rare breed. He didn't want his staff stressed because they had to behave one way on one day with one chef, and another way on another day with another chef. It was going to cause unnecessary tension in an already well oiled machine.

"You'll have a few days where she'll be shadowing you, then she'll have a few days to run the kitchen while you shadow her. You call the shots. The new schedule starts next week. You'll work Wednesday through Saturday, she'll work Monday and Tuesday. You'll maintain the same benefits, your raise should fill in the gaps of the reduced hours. You'll be on call to come in should she need you at any time."

There wasn't a point in arguing anymore. Zeff's decision was obviously final.

"Sanji, you're not being punished, you're being rewarded. Remember that. Her first day is tomorrow, so you should prepare the kitchen staff."

Kalifa left Sanji in his office. He waited about five minutes to make sure she was gone before he kicked the desk over viciously and screamed, "FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK."

In the kitchen, his foul mood was apparent and everyone was on their best behavior because of it. At the end of the night, Sanji took a deep breath and told everyone to meet him in the dining room.

He chewed on an unlit cigarette as everyone settled in. He stood by the bar and tried to think about the best way to put this. If he let on that he was displeased about it, there was a chance that his staff's loyalty would manifest itself in the form of resistance or disrespect towards the new chef – and he wouldn't tolerate that, especially not with a lady. Bad feelings in the kitchen reflected in the overall quality of the restaurant.

"Alright, listen up." Everyone got quiet and looked at Sanji. He sighed.

"Kalifa and Zeff have decided that you fuck ups," he turned a smile at Nami and Vivi, "with the exception of our two perfect, lovely hostesses," he returned his scowl to the rest of the group, "are going to put me in an early grave. And since I'm such a damn good chef, and about the only one capable of running this place without running it into the ground… they've decided to hire another chef for Mondays and Tuesdays."

Groans erupted from the group, and Sanji couldn't blame them. But he couldn't have that kind of attitude.

"Shut your fucking traps. Our new chef starts tomorrow, and you will show her twice the amount of respect you show me, or you're fucking fired."

"Her?" Patty said, indignant. "Boss, you can't be serious."

"I can and I am. And if I hear of any of you making any off color remarks to her, or showing her anything but your best behavior, so help me God you will regret it. I'll be hanging around to help the transition until Saturday. Does everyone understand me?"

There was a round of unenthusiastic "Yes, Sir"s.

Partying was the last thing he felt like doing, so he let Nami know he wasn't going tonight (he almost changed his mind when she pouted), stopped by the liquor store on his way home and bought a handle of Morgan's, and went home to drown himself in his new-found pathetic-ness.

* * *

The expensive tile on his new kitchen floor felt good against his face, even if it wouldn't quite stay still. It was 1 am, and he had to sober up in the next few hours if he was going to face the new chef with any sense of dignity. He should probably consider sleeping, too.

A bath sounded nice.

The skin around his eyes was sore, and then he remembered it was because he'd been rubbing it fiercely with his palms to scrub away pathetic, five-year-old tears that he wouldn't admit to himself he'd been crying.

But he wasn't thinking about that anymore. He needed to concentrate on getting up off the kitchen floor so he could… do whatever it was he'd been thinking about doing.

His damn phone kept ringing, but it was all the way over on the kitchen table. Far too long a journey to make, he decided.

He laughed and rolled over on his back, struggling to sit up and using the handle of one the cabinets to hoist himself up.

BANG BANG BANG.

Where on earth was that coming from? He looked around stupidly, half expecting to see that something had fallen.

BANG BANG BANG.

"Sanji! Let me in! Or answer your damn phone!"

Oh! Someone was at his [i]door[/i].

"Upsy daisy," he said as he grabbed the edge of the counter and pulled himself up. He almost tripped over the coffee table and bumped into a lamp, but managed not to break anything as he slumped against his front door.

He peeked through the hole to see who it was, but the jerk was standing just out of view. He hated it when people did that.

"Whooz'ere?"

"Sanji, let me in."

"Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin."

BANG.

He jumped as he felt the door rattle.

"Don't fucking break my door, asshole!" He grabbed at the chain and lock and managed to yank the door open.

Zoro stepped in, a heavy scowl on his face. "What the fuck, man, we've been calling you all God damn night… How much have you had to drink?"

Sanji wobbled back to his couch, and Zoro shut the door behind him. He spied the mostly empty handle of Morgan's in the kitchen.

"Shit, Sanji, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is fucking wrong with me, what's wrong with you? I told Nami I wasn't going-"

"Yeah, and Ace said you'd probably be drinking yourself stupid right about now after the news at The Baratie. I thought you weren't that stupid, but you wouldn't answer your fucking phone. You're gonna get alcohol poisoning, dip shit-"

"God, you sound just like Shuraiya. Get the fuck out, I don't need this right now."

Zoro snorted and took off his jacket. "I told you I wasn't any good with kids."

"I'm [i]not[/i] a kid, asshole-"

"Then stop fucking acting like one!" Zoro shouted. "I don't get what you're so upset about, but what good is it going to do to wreck your body over it?"

"You wouldn't understand," Sanji muttered darkly, falling over on the couch.

Zoro ignored him and went to the kitchen to get some water. He rummaged through the cabinets for something like bread to soak up the alcohol. He settled for some fancy looking bread and brought it out to the living room.

Sanji glared at him.

"Is that my loaf of $22 Roquefort and Almond sourdough bread that you were about to give me for hangover prevention?"

Zoro looked at the bread, then at Sanji. "Maybe."

Sanji rolled his eyes and turned on his stomach and buried his face in the crook of the couch.

"Alright, if you don't drink the water and eat something, I'll throw it in the trash."

Even drunk, Sanji could tell he wasn't kidding.

He sat up and snatched the water. "There's regular bread in the fridge. Put the honey ham, spicy mustard and swiss cheese on it."  
Zoro snorted and went to the kitchen to prepare the sandwich. He kept the fancy bread with him.

Sanji's head was still swimming when he finished the water and the sandwich. On top of the alcohol, he was almost uncomfortably full. Zoro sat on the edge of the coffee table and watched him silently until he was finished.

"So tell me why getting a new chef so you can have more time off is such a fucking big deal."

"You don't get it. I can do my damn job, and I can fucking do it perfect. But that bastard Zeff and Kalifa don't think I'm worth two shits, so they gotta hire someone else because-" he stopped, his breath hitching. He buried his head in his hands. "Doesn't matter. S'not like I can change their minds. It's so fucking stupid. I never called in [i]once[/i]. Their profits have gone up since I started working there, I got three fucking stars in the fucking Michelin guide, we have the lowest turn over rate in probably the entire fucking city-"

"It's two days a week Sanji. Don't you think if they were doing this because you weren't good enough, they would have just fired you? You get one day off a week and you're so exhausted by then you can barely walk. Did they tell you that you weren't doing good enough?"

"No."

"Then stop doing this to yourself. Your staff respects you, your restaurant is one of the best in New York, and you deserve a break."

Sanji dug his palms into his eye sockets to keep himself from crying again. He wished it were Ace sitting here. Ace had seen him at his lowest; it wasn't anything new to him. But it was Zoro here taking care of his sorry ass and consoling him like he was a fucking child.

"I don't even know what the fuck I'm gonna do with myself. A three day weekend… I'll go fucking crazy. And the staff is gonna go crazy having to work for two different chefs, and this new one is a [i]woman[/i] and that's just gonna start all kinds of shit."

Zoro chuckled. "First time I think I've heard you unhappy about a woman being around."

Sanji laughed wryly. "Yeah well… I'm sure she's perfectly capable."

"And I'm sure you'll work it out to where everyone can function fine. Ace and Lucci have your back."

"Whatever. Lucci fucking hates me right now."

Zoro gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Sanji scrubbed at his face again and ran his fingers through his hair. "Nothing. It's not a big deal." He stood up and took his empty glass of water to the kitchen and filled it again. The floor still wasn't [i]quite[/i] steady.

"You guys are close. What happened?"

Sanji shook his head. "He's just… I don't know. I'm really drunk right now, I can't think straight." He downed the second glass.

"You need to sleep. Gonna sober up in time to go to work?"

"Think so."

"Come on," Zoro gestured for him to follow him.

Sanji let himself be led to his bedroom. He was already in what could be considered pajamas, so Zoro stopped at the bedroom door.

"Got your alarm set?"

Sanji nodded.

"Gonna be okay?"

"Yes, mom."

Zoro grinned and patted Sanji on the shoulder. "Call me if you need me."

Sanji's stomach squirmed, but it wasn't from being full, or from the alcohol. He took Zoro's hand that was still on his shoulder and stood there for a moment.

Zoro looked at him questioningly. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

The other man had been about to ask what for, when Sanji stumbled forward clumsily and mashed his lips to Zoro's.


	4. Chapter 4

Jessica had made quite an impression on Sanji and his staff. She shook hands with Sanji and told him how much she'd heard about him and respected him. She was looking forward to working with him and learning from him.

Then she turned to his staff, who were all eyeing her warily.

"I realize that working in a kitchen under two chefs is going to be a challenge. You all probably have a very solid thing here that you do, and the last thing I want to do is disrupt it for the worse. My number one priority is the quality of this place, so in that respect, I'll be working hard to meet your, Zeff's, and Sanji's expectations."

She smiled, then continued, "But if any of you sad faced mother fuckers doesn't keep up your end of the job, I'll fuck you over so hard and so fast you'll taste my dick in your mouth."

Jaws dropped. The blond haired woman just continued to smile. "So let's all work well together!"

It was as if she'd never said anything out of the ordinary, and soon everyone got over their shock and got to work. Jessica was obviously very intelligent and a very good cook. She knew what questions to ask, and this was what relieved Sanji the most. She knew her way around a kitchen, she knew how to cook almost every meal on the menu and she learned very quickly.

By the end of the day, he felt much better about the situation than he originally had.

"So, do you want to go out for drinks?" Nami asked. "I think we should celebrate the success of our new addition."

"Success has yet to be seen, but I'd be happy to join you if you're all going out," Jessica said.

Nami started asking around before Sanji had a chance to answer. No, he didn't really want to go out for drinks. Especially if there was a chance Zoro would show up. And that was exactly the same reason why he hadn't stepped one foot outside the kitchen all night. Lucci was there, and he did not want to know if Lucci knew. Because chances were, he did.

But again, it was a matter of putting up a good front. He really was pleased with Jessica so far, and he wanted to show that. Turning this down might make his staff think he secretly hated her.

Not to mention he still felt slightly ill from all the Morgan's. Well, he could always order for himself and not let anyone know he wasn't actually drinking.

"I'm out," he heard Lucci say from the bar.

"Aw, why?" Nami asked.

"Got a life outside this place."

Nami frowned. "Well _fine_, we don't like you either."

"What he means is, he's got a hot woman at home waiting for him," Ace added.

Well, if Lucci wasn't coming, it was probably fine.

"Someone wanna call Zoro?"

"He's busy tonight," Lucci said.

"How do you know?" Nami asked petulantly.

"Fine. Call him. He'll tell you the same thing."

Sanji frowned from the grill he was cleaning in the kitchen, and wondered if Zoro really was busy, or if Lucci was covering for him. He wondered how he was going to face Zoro, if ever.

After his act of temporary insanity, Sanji had blacked out. Zoro must've dragged his sorry carcass to his bed and put a blanket on him. It was far more than he deserved.

There'd been no real time to dwell over it. He'd forced himself not to think about it, or else it would distract him. But he didn't know when he _was_ going to think about it. He didn't have a day off until Sunday, and who knew if he'd see the guy between then and now.

Zoro didn't show up that night, or any other night that week they went out. Lucci did eventually, but he didn't seem to be behaving out of the ordinary. Then again, Sanji made a point not to be left alone with the man, or talk to him privately. It was getting to be pathetic, and Ace had noticed.

By Saturday Jessica had a brilliant thing going in the kitchen, and though he'd still rather not have to deal with what he was now calling 'the demotion', he was far more confident that it wasn't going to tear his staff apart.

They'd gone to Water 7 since it'd been a heavy hitting night, and everyone was too tired to go clubbing. Ace cornered him in the hallway outside of the bathroom.

"What the hell is going on with you and Lucci? Does it have to do with Zoro ducking out on us?" Ace looked almost comically worried. Sanji sighed.

"I don't know."

"Yeah, you do. You've never kept shit from me before. And man, getting on Lucci's bad side is not a smart thing to do-"

"Yeah, cuz I'm enjoying this Ace. This is real fuckin' fun for me."

"What the fuck did you _do_?"

Sanji pinched the bridge of his nose. "I..." He sighed. "I… was contemplating."

"Contemplating what?"

"Whether or not," he said slowly, "to… actually… date. Him."

"Who? Zoro?" Ace's eyes went wide. "I thought you-" Ace shook his head and made a sort of rolling motion with his hands. "Ya know… didn't do guys."

Sanji threw his hands up in exasperation. "I know! I just… I'd forgotten about it, or not thought about it, but then Saga got pissed at me, and I kept second guessing myself, and before I knew it, 'no way' turned into 'what if' and- and… he came over the other night with Franky to set up my entertainment system. And when he left, I invited him over for dinner that Sunday. But I was half asleep and not thinking about it, and I realized that I was sorta… asking him out on a date… maybe. But _he_ didn't realize that, fuck, _I_ didn't even realize until the next day what I was doing! And he came over, and…"

"Did you two… do something?"

"No!" Sanji hissed. "He didn't know the real reason I had him over. Nothing happened. But then _you_ went and opened your big fucking mouth on Monday and he came over to check on me and I was so fucking drunk out of my mind and… I kissed him."

Ace laughed in that 'I-don't-believe-this' sort of way. "You… shit, man. Well... What happened?"

"I blacked out. But I haven't had time to think about it or anything and obviously he's not been around. I haven't called him, he hasn't called me, and I'm pretty damn fucking sure he told Lucci. Or if not Lucci, then Robin, and _she_ told Lucci."

"Well… So that means you like him?"

"I don't know!" Sanji growled.

"Well it's pretty obvious, Sanji," Ace frowned. "You two have been attached at the hip since you got over the first misunderstanding. You even kept him around after you found out he was into you. And you're not exactly homophobic, although you've always tried to keep your distance from people like Bonclay and the people at his club. The fact that you even have to wonder about whether you should date him… I mean… that's a huge fucking wall that's just crumbled right there. And you don't just kiss people when you're drunk-"

"I KNOW. I'm just freaked out, okay? This 'sudden revelation' is bad enough, but now I'm sure the guy fucking hates me and Lucci's probably called a hit out on me! And I wasn't exactly smooth that night; I basically mashed my face into his and then passed out."

Ace laughed at him. "You are fucked, dude."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock."

Lucci was staring at him when they got back to the table. Sanji purposefully avoided his gaze, and then finally decided to bail an hour later.

"Come on! There's no work tomorrow," Vivi whined.

"Yeah, but I've got an appointment in the morning to see the podiatrist." A blatant lie, but since no one there really knew what a podiatrist was (except perhaps Lucci, who was keeping quiet), no one questioned him. He bade them a good night and headed outside to hail a cab.

"What happened."

Chills ran down his spine as he heard Lucci's voice directly behind him. He whipped around, and Lucci stood there, his mouth twitching slightly.

"What?"

"Zoro told me to cover for him all this week, and you've been avoiding me."

"I've been avoiding you because you're fucking terrifying, and you're still pissed about me turning Zoro down."

"I told Robin to tell you that I wasn't pissed."

"And she did, but I didn't believe her. You've still been looking at me like you're planning the best way to dispose of my body," Sanji deadpanned.

Lucci sighed. "I look at everybody that way. Look, I just want know what's going on with you two. I don't have many friends, and I'm not Mr. Warm-n-Fuzzy, but I do what I can for them."

Now Sanji couldn't have felt any more like shit if he wanted to. He sighed. Getting it out the second time wouldn't be as hard as the first.

"I… think I have feelings for Zoro. I thought I didn't, but I changed my mind after I spent more time with him. I'm not trying to yank him around – I honestly thought when I found out about him that there was no way I could feel anything more for him than friendship. Then he came over on Monday when I was in bad shape over Zeff hiring someone new, and I was so fucking drunk, and I kissed him and then blacked out. We haven't spoken since then."

He added, "I honestly thought he'd told you."

"No. Probably because he didn't want me to kick your ass." Lucci crossed his arms over his chest. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know."

"That's not the answer I was looking for."

"Look, what do you want from me? I don't even know if he wants to have anything to do with me anymore."

"Have you asked him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"I do. It's because you have no balls."

Sanji groaned. "Lucci-"

"You think it was easy for me to tell Robin just after I'd cheated on her best friend and then dumped her that I wanted go out with her? Or to keep calling her back after every time she said no?"

"I don't even know if he'd answer the phone if I called him-"

"Then call him. Right now. Call him and find out, and maybe I'll call off the hit."

"Whatever, you don't even work for the Mafia."

"Right."

Sanji looked at his bartender, who wasn't smiling. No twitch at the corner of his mouth, no twinkle in his eye. Nothing.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Zoro's number. It went to voicemail after five rings. He hung up.

"No answer."

"Why didn't you leave a message?"

Sanji was about to argue when he received a text.

'At work. What's up.'

He texted back:

'Need to talk to u.'

'Tonight?'

'Tomorrow is fine.'

'Got class in a.m. Bounce p.m. 4?'

'That works.'

'I'll come over.'

Lucci waited patiently while they texted back in forth for a few minutes.

"I'm meeting him at my place tomorrow."

Lucci nodded. "Have a good night." He turned on his heel and went back into the bar.

But a good night, Sanji did not have. He was bone tired, but sleep didn't come until 5 am, when he finally gave in and took some old muscle relaxers he had buried in a box in his closet from an old knee injury.

He slept through his alarm and didn't wake up until two thirty. His head was telling him he should eat something, but his stomach disagreed vehemently, so he settled for a can of V8 then hopped in the shower. When he got out, he realized he'd left his phone in the living room during the night and it was still on silent. He finally found it underneath a couch cushion. He had 4 voicemails and 24 texts.

"What the hell?" He flipped it open to see who the hell had been trying to get a hold of him, when there was a knock at his door.

It was Zoro, and he was sporting several small abrasions on his face, a black eye and a wrist brace.

"Jesus, what the hell happened to you?"

Zoro stepped in. "Work."

Sanji looked at his phone again, and then at Zoro. He dialed his voicemail and shut the door behind him. The first one was from Vivi.

_"Sanji, if you get this PLEASE call one of us! Zoro was in a huge fight at Skypeia and the cops took him to jail, so call one of us back!"_

The next one was from Nami.

_"Sanji, answer your damn phone! Someone said Zoro might have ended up in the hospital and Lucci disappeared somewhere and we think he might be trying to do something stupid, so call us back!"_

The next was from Nami again.

_"Sanji, where the fuck are you? Lucci got arrested and someone said he had a gun on him and we called the hospital but Zoro wasn't admitted! We're going to the station to see if they're there."_

The last one was from Ace.

_"Apparently you turned your phone on silent. Um, the girls left some pretty urgent messages, but everything's alright. Zoro's injuries were minor and Lucci was able to post bail. Zoro wasn't arrested, he was just taken to the station to give his statement. So… yeah. Talk to you later."_

He gaped at his phone for a moment before looking at Zoro again, who looked somewhat sheepish.

"What the hell happened? I left Water at two thirty!"

Zoro shrugged. "Marshall Teach."

"What about Marshall Teach? Did Lucci seriously have a _gun_?"

"He has a permit for it."

Sanji swooned. He sat on his couch.

"Okay, telling me that Marshall Teach was there and that Lucci had a gun doesn't explain anything. What _happened_?"

Zoro sat in the chair next to the sofa. "Lucci and the others had come over from Water. I was out back taking a breather. You remember that guy I whooped the shit out of at Skypeia that one time?"

"Bald guy? Long ass ears?"

Zoro nodded. "Well, if it had just been Teach and his shitty goons, I probably coulda handled it, but as much as I hate to give that mother fucker credit, they had Enel, and I couldn't handle them all at once. It didn't last long – some of the other bouncers came out back to smoke and broke it up." He sighed and shook his head. "Teach and them ran off, but then someone felt the need to go inside and tell Lucci, who promptly ran off and tracked Teach a couple blocks down, beat the fuck out him and pulled his gun on him. But the owner at Sky had already called the police, and when they came onto the scene all they saw was Lucci pointing a gun at Teach. They were both arrested."

"But Lucci was able to post bail?"

Zoro nodded. "He won't face any charges, either."

"Why not?"

"Just trust me, he won't."

Sanji ran a hand through his hair. "Damn. Bad night to have my phone on silent."

Zoro said after a moment, "So you called me over."

Sanji's stomach clenched and he grabbed for his cigarettes. "Yeah. Figured I outta say something or you'd just keep avoiding me."

He heard Zoro sigh. "I figured you probably didn't want to see me any time soon."

Sanji didn't know what to say to that. He looked at the bruising under Zoro's eye, then back at the coffee table and decided against lighting a cigarette. He had no idea what to say. Lucci had been the one to push him into this – he hadn't made any decisions, didn't have anything planned…

"Are you pissed at me?" That was one thing he did need to know.

Zoro scratched his head with his good hand. "No, just… confused. I thought you'd be mad."

"At myself, yeah… but not at you."

Zoro stood up abruptly. "You're not mad at me, I'm not mad at you, now that's straightened out." He turned on his heel to leave.

"Wait- what the hell? Zoro-"

"You know," he turned back around. "I don't fucking get it, Sanji. It's not like you get like that when you're drunk and I'm pretty damn sure you didn't think I was some chick at a bar. I know you were upset about The Baratie thing, so do you want to write it off as that?"

"I'm not writing it off!" Sanji snapped. "I just don't know right now! I mean, there are some things I do know, but not everything. I kissed you because I was drunk and I wanted to, but I don't know _why_ I wanted to. You've made me reconsider my original decision, but I'm not done reconsidering! I didn't mean to string you along; I had no intention of letting on to anything until I'd figured it out."

Zoro obviously had not expected that reply. "What… what more do you need to know?"

Sanji was taken aback. "I just… I thought that if I did want to date you, I should have a firm yes. And right now… all I have is confusion. I haven't been able to think about it all week because I've been training the new chef, and you haven't been around so I've been freaking out over whether I even still had you as a _friend_ or not, and Lucci has been spitting venom at me ever since I turned you down. Do you know he threatened me over the phone last Sunday before you came over?" He finished his rant with a heavy sigh. "I thought I'd have a few weeks to see if things got… I dunno, warmer or something. But then… well, you were there."

"So what, I'm supposed to sit here and wait when there's a chance at the end of a few weeks you could just say, 'Huh, Nothing there. Psyche!'?"

"This is why you _weren't supposed to know_."

"But I do, and I don't see that as being anyone's fault but yours."

He didn't know what to say anymore. There was no winning in this situation.

"What do you want me to do? How do I make it right? I didn't ask you to come over that night, and I didn't ask for these feelings. But you did, and those feelings are there. I'm trying not to do something stupid and rush into something that I'm not sure about. And I'm sorry if that pisses you off."

Zoro rubbed at his forehead with his palm. "So in your _plan_, your little test drive, just what were you going to do?"

"Nothing spectacularly different," Sanji muttered. "Subtly find a way to spend more time with you."

"Yeah, last Sunday was _real_ subtle."

"Shut the hell up, alright? You try sitting around going insane in your spare moments."

Zoro looked at him. "Seriously? What do you think I've been doing since I fucking met you?"

There was a rabid bat in Sanji's stomach – at least that's what it felt like, the flopping. And no, his face didn't feel hot suddenly.

"Alright," Zoro sighed. "Do what you gotta do."

Sanji stood up. "I'm not trying to be an asshole."

"I know."

"Besides..." He padded to the front door. "You can always console yourself knowing that if what I decide isn't what Lucci likes… well, he's got a gun, and he'd probably get away with it."

Zoro grabbed Sanji's arm, shoved him against the door and captured his lips in a warm, firm kiss.

When he pulled away he said, "Start your test drive out with a bang."

Then he left.

Sanji snorted and rolled his eyes. He had to admit, it was a pretty bad line. Though it might work for a car commercial.

* * *

In hindsight, Sanji knew then, really, but it had taken him a few days to process everything at an angle that didn't make his brain shut down. He wanted to date this guy, any other information was either stored for when sanity returned, or deleted. But it had taken him a few days to summon any confidence, and another two days after that to sort out logistics. But that was all well before Robin and Lucci invited him over for dinner and Lucci 'showed him his gun collection'. It was when Lucci had showed Sanji how to put the silencer on his Kimber 1911 Compact that he'd finally had enough.

All he wanted was his regular, stoic, non-aggressive (at least, not to _him_) bartender back. Well, not _just_ that, but when he started thinking about anything more than that, his brain would blip and shut down.

Sunday afternoon found him in Shuraiya's class (now karate – the Muay Thai class had ended) working off his anxiety. He'd been keeping up with the crunches for the most part, and had even got back to stretching when he got up and before he went to bed. It almost didn't kill him to do the splits anymore.

After class, Shuraiya walked with him to the locker room. "You're looking better. We still doing poker at your place tonight?"

"Yeah, if you're coming."

Shuraiya nodded. "So what've you been up to?"

"Oh, not much." He peeled off his sweaty shirt and grabbed a dry one from his bag. "The new chef at The Baratie is outstanding, I figured out how to enjoy myself on my days off, my feet don't fucking hurt as much anymore, I decided to ask Zoro out, my new apartment's working out really well."

"Grew a pair, did we?"

Sanji just gave him a withering glare.

"So when are you gonna do it?"

"Dunno. I've never asked a guy out, so I thought I'd seek out a pro's advice."

"Well, you could-"

"I meant Saga."

"Fuck you, dickwad."

Sanji laughed. "Come on, tell me."

Shuraiya cracked him a malicious smile. "I think I'd rather see you fuck it up and flop around like a fish outta water. Makes for much better story telling in the long run. Maybe Zoro'll change his mind."

Sanji frowned and sat down on the bench, his bag in his lap. "He could. I haven't made it easy."

"I'm just fucking with you. He's not gonna change his mind. Probably."

When it came down to it though, Shuraiya didn't have any practical advice to give. His relationship with Saga had been as much as of a surprise to Shuraiya as Sanji's current situation was to Sanji. Sanji thought that was pretty hypocritical, given how shitty Shuraiya had been to him about it. But then, how else was Shuraiya going to act? He was a grumpy son of a bitch, no two ways about it.

"What about tonight? Is he coming?"

"Yeah, but everyone's gonna be there."

"So wait until everyone's gone."

Sanji frowned and stood up. He was hesitating to state the obvious, because he wasn't sure Shuraiya would have anything helpful to say on that particular subject. He might even take it the wrong way.

Saga walked in just then, looking pretty beat. He nodded at Sanji, who nodded back. Apparently Saga was still pissed.

"Now, now kids, if you're gonna keep this up I'm gonna have to call in a counselor," Shuraiya wrapped his arm around Saga's waist.  
"You gotta be nice to Sanji now, he's needs your 'expert advice'."

Saga looked his lover and at Sanji, eyebrow raised. "What's going on?"

"I…" Sanji started.

"He's gonna ask Zoro out," Shuraiya interrupted. He looked at Sanji and shrugged off his glare. "Woulda taken you all day to spit it out."

Saga frowned. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Never mind," Sanji snapped. "I don't have to fucking explain it to everyone who comes around. And I don't need people around who aren't cool with me unless I'm dating the guy they want me to."

He snatched his bag and left. He knew he was just frustrated, and he'd probably regret snapping at Saga like that later. And really, if anyone deserved that speech, it was probably Lucci. But he really was done explaining it to everyone. The only opinion that mattered now was Zoro's, and he'd find out what Zoro was thinking soon enough.

And though he never got to say it, the problem with 'doing it' or 'confessing' or whatever it was he was planning to do at his home or Zoro's concerned the big thing he hadn't really been thinking about since he decided to go through with 'it'. The feelings were there but… Well, to put it the simplest way, he'd enjoyed kissing Zoro. But he wasn't sure about anything else. And usually if he brought a _girl_ to his place and told her he wanted to hook up, bing bang boom…

He couldn't even _think_ about it without killing half his brain cells. The thought just would not complete itself. And the last thing he wanted to do was tell Zoro he was interested and then shun him physically because he was freaked out.

But telling Zoro in some place more public than his home wasn't ideal either. Maybe he should just text him… Shyeah. 'I u…' He shuddered. That was out.

* * *

Though Sanji's apartment wasn't really big enough to fit this many people, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Anyone who had any cooking ability had brought something to share (taking the burden off Sanji), and everyone else had brought booze. Zoro, Ace, Kaku, Nami, Robin and Lucci were heavily engrossed in an intense poker battle, and it looked as though Nami was going to win. But he also suspected that Robin and Lucci might be cheating, so it was a toss up. His entertainment center was being put to good use (he hoped his neighbors were tolerant people) with Franky trying to convince everyone that naked karaoke was a brilliant idea.

Shuraiya hadn't shown up yet, but Sanji wouldn't be surprised if he decided not to show. If Saga wasn't coming – and Sanji had no reason to believe he would – then Shuraiya probably wouldn't either. So when the door bell rang and everyone got real quiet, expecting the cops to be on the other side, everyone was relieved to find it was actually Shuraiya and Saga.

"Oh. Come on in…"

Shuraiya glanced between them before giving them both a disgusted roll of the eyes and heading straight for booze and food. Saga hung back, a strange look on his face.

"Show me your room," he said suddenly. Sanji didn't really reply before his feet automatically started heading for his bedroom. Once inside, Saga shut the door behind them. He started in on Sanji immediately.

"Look, I have a right to be concerned for my friends. And Zoro? He's the best friend I've ever fucking had. And he's been through hell, and if you knew him the way I did, you would have never turned him down in the first place. But…" The lavender haired man sighed and looked down at his bad arm. "I shouldn't hold that against you. I didn't try to understand where you were coming from, or give you credit for the way you handled it. You weren't stringing him along, I was just angry on his behalf, because he wouldn't be. Somehow it made me feel better to be pissed at you."

Sanji shoved his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry about it."

Saga snorted. "Look… You're not just my friend if you date Zoro. You were my friend before then. You'll be my friend if it doesn't work out."

Sanji nodded. "Thanks."

They were silent for a moment before Saga said, "So Shuraiya said you aren't sure how you're gonna ask him."

Sanji chuckled. "I have no fucking idea, Saga. I don't know what to say, when to say it, _where_ to say it…"

"Why not after everyone else goes home?"

Sanji groaned. "That's what Shuraiya said but… look, don't take this the wrong way, okay? But… I don't- if- okay. Say I brought a chick to my place and asked her out. She says yes. What do you think we do next?"

"Have ridiculously kinky sex all night?"

"Precisely!" Sanji stood up and started pacing. "And so, logically, do you think that if I asked Zoro out tonight, and he said yes, then…"

"You would have ridiculously kinky sex all night?"

Sanji nodded.

"Well… knowing him and how he feels about you… I'd say that would be a goal he's aiming for, yeah."

"Ugh," Sanji threw up his hands and collapsed back onto his bed. "Saga, I don't… I'm not _shy_, you _know_ me. But…"

"Gay sex is an intimidating and unexplored frontier for you, I'm sure," he nodded, getting the picture. "Well, what about just fooling around?"

Sanji shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, we've kissed. And I enjoyed that. So I don't think it would be... impossible."

Saga smiled. "Just let him know that. Hell, he's probably already anticipated that much. If you don't want to do it, he's not gonna _force_ you."

"No, I know he won't, but I just don't want him to misunderstand. I've fucked things up enough already, and I don't want him to think I'm being an asshole."

"It's gonna be fine. Seriously."

* * *

"What the hell are they doing in there?" Zoro griped, looking at his dismal hand.

Shuraiya leaned across him for the salsa. "Giving each other a thorough anatomy lesson."

"So you and Saga are like that, huh?" Nami winked.

"I just collect the money at the end of the day," he grinned. Some laughed while others rolled their eyes.

"So," Lucci elaborated, his expression neutral, "what you're basically saying is, Saga is a prostitute, and you're his pimp? Is that what you're saying, Shuraiya?"

"You've all heard the Pimp's Prayer?" Shuraiya asked the group.

"The Pimp's Prayer, huh?" Saga said, looming behind Shuraiya. "No, I don't believe I've ever heard that one, Shura, why don't you explain it to me?"

Shuraiya's hand froze mid-dip.

From the other room, Franky cleared his throat. "Let us pray the Pimp's Prayer."

Those who didn't know it watched on in amusement as those who did recited it for Saga to hear.

"Lord, please pray for the soul of this bitch and guide my pimp hand and make it strong, Lord, so that she might learn a hoe's place. Amen." (1)

The entire apartment exploded with laughter as Saga grabbed Shuraiya by the ear and hauled him off to the bathroom. Sanji took Shuraiya's spot at the table.

"You know they just went in there to make out," Nami sighed.

"Whatever, as long as they clean up after themselves," Sanji shrugged.

"So what kept you two in there for so long?" Kaku asked.

"Reconciling, I'm sure," Lucci muttered. "Now can we get on with the fucking game?"

But the game quickly went down hill for everyone except Nami, who walked away with an extra four hundred dollars by the end of it.  
They started to wrap it up by 2 am, since most of them there had to be at The Baratie the next morning.

"If any of you jerks call in tomorrow or cause Jessica any trouble, I will fire your lousy asses!" Sanji warned as Carne was carried out by Patty and Franky, followed by the rest of The Baratie staff.

Saga and Shuraiya (who had finally come out of the bathroom an hour later, definitely not looking as though they'd been fighting) helped with clean up, and while Zoro was across the room picking up cups, Saga muttered, "Do you want us to stay… or get him to leave… or what?"

Sanji shook his head. "No… I think I'm gonna do it."

His friend grinned. "Well, remember. You're sober, so there's no excuse."

"Wow, thanks. That's very encouraging."

They left quickly after that, leaving just Zoro and Sanji, slowly walking around the apartment and picking up plates, cups and general party mess.

"That should be good. I'll sweep and stuff tomorrow," Sanji said as he surveyed the damage. A sink full of dishes and nacho dip drying in weird places – the damage was minimal, considering.

"Alright," Zoro said, grabbing his jacket. "Gotta split. Got the rec center in the morning and then a physical."

"What for?" Sanji asked, his heart hammering in his chest. Maybe he should save it for tomorrow…?

"Job application. There's an opening at Bujinkan."

"No shit? That would be awesome!"

Bujinkan New York Dojo was one of the most well respected dojos on the east coast. Classes were very expensive, and job openings almost never happened.

Zoro chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I could quit bouncing if I got a job there. Actually, I'd _have_ to quit bouncing, is what they told me. I mean, I like it when I can bounce while Lucci's running the bar, but… Shit like what happened with Teach… Some competitions won't let you enter if you have a criminal record. And if the police had decided to press charges against me, I'd be fucked. And it's just not worth it. Besides, ever since I started bouncing I haven't been able to focus like I need to."

Sanji nodded. "So when do you find out?"

Zoro shrugged. "I don't know. There were a lot of applicants – over 100, I think. I hope it wasn't any more than that anyway."

"Well, let me know when you know."

Zoro nodded. "I will. See ya."

"Um-…"

Zoro paused. "What?"

"Uh…"

"What?" Zoro repeated.

Sanji's courage shriveled up into dust and he laughed. "Ah, never mind. I was gonna say something, but then I remembered that I already said it. Never mind."

Zoro narrowed his gaze. "What was it?"

"Just forget it."

Zoro sighed and closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he looked determined. "Look, I can take it, alright? I'm not gonna get mad, but if you play it like this you really _are_ gonna be jerking me around."

Sanji's voice caught in his throat and it took him a minute to find it again. Why was this so fucking hard? "I'm not jerking you around. I just don't know how to say it-"

"Look, it's real easy. 'Zoro, I'm not interested, have a good night.' See? Easy." Zoro turned to go. Sanji raced past him and plastered his back against the door, blocking Zoro's exit.

"That's not what I'm trying to say-"

"Then what are you trying to say? I'm not a fucking mind reader!" Zoro growled.

Sanji huffed in exasperation. Maybe he should just let the jerk go if he was going to make this twice as hard as Sanji was already making it on himself.

"I'm saying yes, God damn it!"

Zoro froze, then lurched forward suddenly and stopped again, just short of crashing into the other man. He hovered within Sanji's personal space bubble. "Y-yes?"

"Yes," Sanji repeated.

"You're sure?"

"You want me to change my mind?" Sanji asked incredulously. "Who fucking says tha-"

But Zoro lurched forward again, his hands slamming onto the door on either side of Sanji's head. There was no space between them to speak of anymore - perhaps only a whisper before their lips met.

"Sanji…"

There was nowhere to go, really, and Sanji kept screaming at himself not to push Zoro away or duck out. But he felt like a dam had just burst and it was questionable whether he'd survive the impact.

"Z-zoro I…"

Maybe Zoro realized, or maybe he'd just happened to make the right move and hadn't put any real thought into it (Sanji liked to say that it was the latter), but instead of the jarring impact of all Zoro's pent up emotion and anxiety, the green haired man's lips instead gently brushed against Sanji's.

Sanji figured if he hadn't spontaneously combusted by this point, he'd probably come out of this okay. So he pressed into the kiss tentatively and he closed his eyes, taking in the heat rolling off Zoro, his cologne, what he could smell of the man _underneath_ his cologne. Before he knew it, his hands had suddenly become restless. He kept them pressed flat against the door, but wrapping them around Zoro's waist seemed like a brilliant idea.

He jumped slightly as Zoro's hands slid down the door and came to cup gently against his neck, sliding up to hold his head and then tilt it slightly until he gasped, and Zoro's tongue swept across his lips.

This was a bad time for his rabid-bat-in-stomach syndrome to be acting up, and the result of his shock about Zoro's tongue and his stomach apparently trying to form a spatial vortex caused him to think that maybe Zoro's tongue in his mouth was a good idea. So, even Zoro was a little surprised when he felt Sanji's tongue slip out to tease at his own lips, daring him to do something more. It was enough to make his control falter a little.

He parted the blond man's mouth with his own and let his tongue caress Sanji's – Sanji's mouth was hot and soft and tasted faintly like tobacco and the beer they'd both had earlier.

It was overwhelming, was all Sanji could think. It was good, but it was a lot to take in – the feel of such an aggressive kissing partner was not one he'd experienced before. And it was so good and it made him think he could probably do things _right there_ on _that floor_ that maybe he ought not to contemplate doing until he had a clear head.

He was panting through his nose to keep up - he didn't want to stop, he could do this…

He…

He needed to stop.

His hands came up slightly, faltering on what to do. He settled for sliding them up Zoro's forearms and squeezing at the green haired man's wrists.

And maybe Zoro didn't understand what Sanji was asking, or maybe he understood and just ignored him (Sanji liked to say it was the latter), but he took the opportunity to grab Sanji's wrists and pin his arms above his head, deepening the kiss further and working a leg in between Sanji's thighs.

Okay, maybe he deserved that for being so dense about everything. But then when Zoro had both Sanji's wrists secured with one hand, his free hand promptly slid back down Sanji's side and crept underneath his shirt.

Sanji tore his mouth away from Zoro's and panted, "You are definitely about two seconds from needing to change that physical in the morning to a trip to the ER _tonight_."

Zoro chuckled – Sanji could feel the movement of his ribs as he did, and the low, deep sound of it sounder much nicer than Sanji wanted to admit at the moment. He released the chef's wrists and stepped back.

"Agree to go out with me and threaten to put me in the hospital all in five minutes. I'm… not sure what to think." But it was obvious to Sanji by the cheeky grin on Zoro's face that the other man was perfectly fine with it.

"Listen, dating I agreed to. Dating…" he took a few breaths and flicked the hair that had fallen over his eyes, "dating encompasses second base. That's it. I'm gonna have to do a bit of hypnotherapy before you even _think_ about trying anything else."

Zoro laughed softly. "Alright. I get it. But it wasn't that bad…?"

Sanji sniffed. "Not what I'm used to… but not bad."

Then Zoro's expression turned serious. "What were you and Saga doing in your bedroom earlier?"

"What?" Sanji asked, confused.

"You were in there for like half an hour."

Sanji shook his head. "We were… He was apologizing. We had a fight earlier today, so we talked about it. What did you think we were doing?"

"So… he wasn't like… giving you pointers? No… demonstrations?"

Sanji felt the best laugh he'd had in a while bubble up and burst out loudly. "Are you fucking serious? _Yeah_, Zoro, I asked him back there so he could help me practice kissing!" He laughed so hard his ribs hurt, but mostly at the indignant expression on Zoro's face.

"What? It's a serious question," he stated matter-of-factly. But Sanji's laughter only persisted, and finally Zoro growled, "Look, it's how he tricked me out of _my_ first kiss, alright?"

Sanji stopped, then covered his mouth and snorted. He tried to hold back, he did, but he couldn't help it. He laughed. "You… are you serious?? Oh man," he slapped his knee, trying to catch his breath, "you are SAD."

"Alright, fine, Mr. Funnyman." Zoro picked up his jacket and slung it on.

"No, Zoro-" Sanji said in between laughs, "Don't leave, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I promise I'll stop. Bff-" He snorted again and pulled at Zoro's arm. "Okay, I'm calm. I'm calm. I'm done. See?"

Sanji hadn't really stopped laughing, and Zoro did leave feeling quite scandalized. But that didn't stop him from going over to Sanji's directly after his physical the next morning and making up.

* * *

(1) The Pimp's Prayer is property of the television show The Boondocks. I'm not making money off of it, just incorporating it into my gay porn. .


	5. Chapter 5

The books, he'd accepted. The discreet videos, yeah, he accepted. The... items, as he only ever called them, he accepted with great reluctance. The personal advice – once they were good and drunk, he'd accepted. But then Saga had told him about a _seminar_ and Sanji finally drew the line.

Saga didn't know why his panties were in such a knot about it. It's not like there would be any women there, or likely people he knew. But Sanji refused to sit in room surrounded by other gay men and have someone up on stage lecturing about the best way to have sex, probably with plenty of slide footage to demonstrate.

"You'll regret it! Once you finally give Zoro a break and go through with it-"

"Saga, if you utter one more word, I will barbeque you and serve you as a special. And believe me, I've seen Fried Green Tomatoes, _no one would notice the difference_."

It was Saturday night and the restaurant was surprisingly slow, so Nami thought it would be a good idea to call up everyone who either wasn't working, or didn't work there already, and have a big dinner. Sanji thought it was unlikely that anyone would want to come in on their night _off_ from the place, just to eat, but a good 15 people ended up showing. It wasn't until the end of the night that he suddenly realized why.

He brought in rounds of tiramisu for everyone and Ace helped him, even though he was technically off.

Robin said, "It was very generous of you to waive our bill Sanji."

"Yeah boss, thanks!"

"Yeah!" and the cheers went all around.

He looked at Nami, who came over to comfort him. "Do you think anyone would have showed up if we said they had to _pay_?"  
He sighed and simply consoled himself when Nami leaned her beautiful head against his shoulder.

When they were all gone and the kitchen was in decent order, he locked the cash in the office, grabbed his overnight bag and joined Zoro who was waiting for him outside.

"You bring your car?"

Zoro nodded. "Though a cab probably would have been warmer."

It was now late September and they'd been dating for a month. Without realizing it, he'd basically begun scheduling his life in terms of when he'd see Zoro next. They'd had a few nasty arguments – mostly about really dumb shit like why Zoro had failed to mention that Saga was not only Zoro's first kiss, but also his first _everything_, and why Sanji still flirted shamelessly with women when they went out to clubs. But they'd gotten over at least those two things, and Sanji wasn't worried about them getting over other things the future might throw their way.

A constant stress for Sanji, however, was this big build up over the sex. Zoro only felt it from a 'desire to be with Sanji' sort of standpoint, but for Sanji, there was a hell of a lot of pressure.

He'd finally accepted that it was going to happen – maybe even _wanted_ it to happen. Then he went about educating himself on the details, which caused him to revert once again to the no-way-in-hell stage again. In the meantime, things had gotten a lot more physical between the two of them, and he was relieved at least in that respect to find that his physical attraction equaled (if not out-did) his emotional attraction to the man.

Once he finally found himself in a semi-calm frame of mind - as though he was ready to go through with it – Zoro got the job at the dojo. But the first two weeks on the job required an intense training regimen with the dojo's masters.

So Zoro found himself completely overwhelmed during the day still keeping up his classes at the rec and then all day at the dojo, and still bouncing a few nights a week (they'd agreed to let him stay on for one last paycheck before he had to quit completely). He was completely exhausted, and when he did manage to make it over Sanji's place for the night, or Sanji to his, Sanji couldn't blame him for only wanting to soak in a hot bath and then sleep.

He'd been there and done those 17 hour days, six days a week; he knew what it was like. So he did what he could for the guy – making sure his meals were nutritious enough, making sure he had plenty of spare snacks in the fridge ready for him to grab, giving him back massages when he was too sore to move.

It all amounted to a comfortable domesticity that had Sanji slightly frustrated. He'd wondered if Zoro was even still interested in going that far with him – a ridiculous notion, as Zoro and everyone else would have told him if he'd asked.

But Zoro's last day at Skypeia had been Friday, and he didn't have to go to the dojo on Saturdays. So even though Sanji had been working and up on his feet all day, he'd planned for tonight to be it. He hadn't _told_ Zoro that or anything, but never mind that.  
When they got to Zoro's apartment, Sanji shrugged Zoro's pawing hands off and threw him a look. "I'm sweaty and I smell like baba ganoush. I'm taking a shower."

Zoro sighed and muttered, "Fine," and promptly unbuttoned his pants, kicked off his shoes and threw off his shirt.

Sanji shook his head and warned himself fairly that _that_ would not be as endearing when Zoro was fifty and had a beer gut. If that prospect didn't make him change his mind, then nothing probably would.

Once in the shower, he scrubbed at his skin until he couldn't smell The Baratie anymore. When he got out, he hesitated idiotically about what he should wear. Guys didn't care about that shit, he knew, but should he just wear his towel out or should he bother to put on his underwear, or should he put sweats on and a shirt because maybe Zoro would still be tired? And though they'd fooled around up until this point, neither of them had ever really been naked in front of the other. Even walking out there in his boxer-briefs would be a first for them.

That was it; maybe they needed to experience various states of undress with each other before they jumped into the whole completely naked sex thing.

No, that was probably crazy talk. It sounded like crazy talk. He went with his boxer-briefs, and decided that if Zoro said something, he could always just say it was hot in the apartment.

Hair still damp and feeling more self conscious than he'd felt since his first group shower in middle school after gym class, he threw the towel over his shoulder and walked nonchalantly past Zoro on the couch and into the kitchen for a glass of water.  
Zoro's eyes followed him every step of the way.

He leaned against the sink and observed _Zoro's_ walk into the kitchen with his eyes as he downed his glass of water.

Zoro leaned against the stove.

"Feeling comfortable in our surroundings, are we?"

Sanji put down the glass and raised an eyebrow. "Do you, Mr. Get-Home-and-Divest-Myself-of-Decency, have a problem?"

Zoro grinned. His slacks hung low on his hips and Sanji's eyes were once again drawn to the horrific gash across the other man's chest. That had been a shock, followed up by an interesting story. Since then he'd found himself fascinated by it, and even more fascinated by the man who bore it.

"No problem. But nudity at your own risk in this place."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "Does that go for anyone who comes here?"

"No, just people I wanna fuck. And there's only one of those right now," Zoro shrugged.

Sanji snorted and pushed himself off the counter. He sauntered past Zoro and said, "That's all there'll ever be. And if you don't get me to the bedroom soon, they'll be no risk of anything tonight."

Zoro snatched his hand and unceremoniously dragged him to the bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

Sanji let himself be pulled and told himself to relax. Pheromones and adrenaline were rushing through his system and it wouldn't take much to trigger his fight or flight reflexes.

Zoro advanced on him and his knees hit the edge of the bed, buckling underneath him, and Zoro went down with him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Zoro-"

"Listen, Sanji," Zoro said, his gaze serious, "don't play around with me. No means no, and yes means yes. Nothing in between, you understand? You tell me yes and I will do it, you say no and I won't. So if you mean yes, don't say no, got it?"

"I got it, but-"

"What?"

Sanji swallowed hard.

"Uh… nothing." He looked to his left to escape those dark eyes bearing into him.

He felt Zoro's body relax on top of him and felt the hot air of Zoro's sigh on his neck. "Alright," he muttered into Sanji's ear, as if he had changed his mind, "I'll go slow."

Sanji's heart beat slowed considerably, and he wrapped his arms around Zoro's neck. "Alright."

The green haired man captured Sanji's mouth and, even though he'd said otherwise, he wasted no time in claiming every inch of it, caressing that soft, hot place with his tongue. Then he broke the kiss and stood up, shrugging off his slacks and then encouraging Sanji to crawl further onto the bed.

He pulled Sanji close to him as they kissed again, and he ran his hands up Sanji's back, massaging lightly at the cords of muscle and then slipping down to grip the chef's ass firmly. Sanji sucked in a sharp breath – God it felt good to have Zoro's hands on him like that. He didn't even know why, but it did.

Sanji slid _his_ hands down Zoro's chest, contemplating the terrain he found of muscular dips and raises, the knotted diagonal trail across the expanse. They slipped lower still to the elastic band of Zoro's boxers, slipping in teasingly then wrapping around Zoro's back to run one finger slowly up the man's spine.

Zoro hummed in approval and broke the kiss, only to trail more kisses down Sanji's chin to his neck, where Zoro stopped to scrape his teeth along his earlobe.

Sanji squirmed – he still wasn't sure if he loved that or hated it. But Zoro quickly moved on and swept his tongue across the skin of Sanji's neck, then down to his shoulder.

Zoro shuddered as Sanji's hand dove into his boxers and gripped his quickly hardening member. Sanji caressed it gently as he used his other hand to urge Zoro's underwear down further. He kissed Zoro again and then crouched lower, placing kisses on the man's chest as he stroked Zoro's member leisurely.

He could only watch and place his hands on Sanji's shoulders for balance as Sanji's mouth crept lower and lower, licking seductively down his scar – he always got tingles in weird places when Sanji did that – before flicking in and out of his navel.

Sanji was on his hands and knees now, and he looked up at Zoro once before he guided the man's member into his mouth.

Zoro hissed and gripped Sanji's shoulders a little tighter as he saw the head of his member disappear behind those warm lips. Despite a lack of experience, this was something Sanji had picked up on very quickly. He'd told Zoro at one point, "What can I say? I'm orally fixated."

But one thing Zoro had learned very quickly NOT to do was put his hands on Sanji's head. Their first time they hadn't been able to set up any kind of pace, so the green haired man had thought to help it along by encouraging Sanji with his hands and the thrust of his hips. Sanji had immediately pulled back, squeezed the base of his dick _hard_ and said, "If you ever do that again, I will rip your balls off."

But Zoro found that after a few more times, Sanji did not need any help at all.

As for himself, Sanji found that the trick to this was trying to speak French with Zoro's cock in his mouth. Though he'd never admit it to Zoro, he'd gotten slightly bored one night when he was first getting the hang of this - the other man was taking a while to climax. He'd let his mind wander to what special he'd be serving the next day, and his thoughts had suddenly manifested in what he was doing.

Anis de Flavigny, Soufflé au Fromage, Soupe à l'Oignon gratinée, Mousse de Foies de Volaille.

That was about the perfect blow job right there. He rasped his tongue slowly up and down the length, letting his tongue roll with the words and taking in as much of him as he could, swallowing as he worked Zoro's hard length.

Of course, the unfortunate side affect of this was that Sanji could now never think of a single French recipe without first thinking of Zoro's dick. In his mouth. But that was neither here nor there.

Zoro's cock pulsed in his mouth and he tried to speed up, but Zoro pulled him up by the shoulders. He panted, "There's no better way to ask then to just say it so… Can I come inside? If you don't want me to, I don't care, but…"

Sanji's stomach clenched and he swallowed. "I-I don't… It's fine." Zoro nodded and kissed him before getting up and going to his dresser.

He'd informed Sanji sometime after they'd become official in a purposeful but casual way that he'd tested clean at his physical, which prompted Sanji to do the same not long after. He hadn't been with anyone since before that night at the Merry and Teach's attack, and he'd always had safe sex with women, but he did it just to be sure. He'd wondered previously if Zoro would want to use a condom – he guessed not. He didn't mind, since they were both clean.

He didn't _think_ he minded anyway. It's not like he'd ever had cum up his-

Zoro crawled back into the bed with what Sanji assumed must be lube. He swallowed again as Zoro set the bottle aside and pushed him onto his back.

He told himself to relax again. No meant no, so if he needed to say it, he knew he could rely on Zoro to listen. He just didn't want to fuck this up. If he did need to say no, what would Zoro do? Would he get pissed? He'd had girls do that to him before. It sucked, but he was a gentleman and he'd never force a lady. But it _did_ suck, and he didn't want Zoro-

"Sanji, your heart is beating like crazy." Zoro had his ear pressed to Sanji's chest. He looked up. "Calm the hell down, you're gonna have a heart attack."

Sanji released the breath he'd been holding. Zoro took one of his hands and locked it with his own. "Even if you said no right here and now, we'd just get up and go watch TV. Well, I'd have to go to the bathroom first, but you get what I'm saying."

Sanji snorted, but smiled. "I got it."

Zoro kissed Sanji's firm belly. "Good."

He continued to kiss further down and released Sanji's hand, slipping Sanji's underwear off slowly.

Lying naked against the rumpled sheets, as hard as Zoro was, Sanji looked like the best thing he'd had ever seen. All that pale skin and those long limbs, the hard abs and the soft skin of his thighs, the golden hair falling in his face… Zoro kissed his belly with no small amount of worship in the action, then sat back up on his knees, lifting Sanji's hips up so far that the chef's back rested halfway on his stomach and halfway nestled between his thighs. He hooked Sanji's knees over his shoulders and slowly kissed one thigh.

Sanji's chin was pressed into his chest; he gripped the sheets and closed his eyes.

Zoro smirked and lowered Sanji back down enough so that his chin wasn't pressed so hard into his chest, and this gave him more access to what he'd been wanting anyway. Hands still supporting Sanji's hips, Zoro took Sanji's hard length into his mouth and caressed it with his tongue.

And this was the part that ticked Sanji off. Zoro was very good at this, very good. Better than almost any woman he'd known. And that was just ridiculous, because then it made him question how many dicks a guy had to suck before he got that good, and just how many had Zoro done?

Saga had come to his defense, however, and reminded Sanji that it wasn't the quantity, but the duration of experience. Sanji had told Saga to go fuck himself after that.

Zoro took a breath and released it, relaxing his throat and going down on Sanji as far as he could. Sanji panted and gasped, but he had no leverage to do anything with his feet, and he wanted something to push against so bad. He wanted to thrust, and the feeling just wasn't fulfilled with Zoro holding his hips like that.

The other man could tell he was frustrated, so he released Sanji and had him turn over on his stomach.

"Thought you were gonna lose it there for a second," Zoro teased as he kissed his way up Sanji's back.

Sanji huffed. "Glad you're so proud to be a fucking tease."

"At least I'm not reciting French when I've got your dick in my mouth," Zoro countered, nibbling at Sanji's ear again.

"Saga is a fucking loud mouth."

"Yeah, can't trust that guy with anything."

"Mmm…" Sanji sighed as Zoro let the full weight of his body rest against Sanji. He propped himself up on his elbows and let his neck fall forward as Zoro kissed it.

"So did you learn a lot from the books Saga gave you?"

"Jesus fuck, I seriously can't trust that asshole with anything."

"Actually, I came across your stash at your place while you were in the shower. So did you go out and buy those, or…?"

"Everything came from Saga. It was all his suggestion, alright?"

Zoro laughed and it rippled from his body to Sanji's. "I don't care Sanji. I mean, it's kinda hot, imagining what you did with all those books and DVD's and-"

"'Items', I call them 'items'."

"Yes, what you did with all those 'items' by yourself."

Sanji sniffed. "You'll never know."

Zoro sighed. "Guess not. Suppose I'll have to make up for that." He slid his hips forward, his erection rubbing against Sanji's cleft. "Listen," he whispered low into Sanji's ear, "there are a lot of ways to prepare you…"

Sanji's stomach clenched again, but he found himself wanting to return Zoro's thrusting.

"Would you rather do it yourself, or do you want me to do it? I'd love to," he placed a kiss on Sanji's shoulder, "but it's your choice."

The chef squeezed his eyes shut and said, "You."

Zoro kissed him again. "Okay. There's something I want to do, and all I need is a yes or no from you. You learned from those DVD's and stuff about rimming?"

Sanji's eyes flew open. Yes, yes he knew about rimming. He'd finally gotten the guts up to ask Saga what in the hell people found appealing about this, and he'd only received this cryptic response, "You'll never know, because you have to do it to know. And I just can't see you doing it."

It had pissed Sanji off at the time, and he'd convinced himself that that was just Saga's way of baiting him into doing it if the opportunity ever came up. But now that it was being asked of him, he had no idea what to say.

"I did."

"Will you let me?"

"I don't-"

"Yes or no."

That was probably Zoro's way of making it easier on him, but in fact it made it harder.

"Yes," he muttered. His hands were tangled in the sheets and he was gripping the linens so hard he was starting to lose feeling in his fingers. If Zoro wanted to, there must be something good at least from his end.

He felt Zoro's weight shift and suddenly the warmth was gone.

Zoro grabbed a pillow, coaxed Sanji's hips up, and stuffed the pillow underneath. He ran his hands slowly down Sanji's back once more before they settled at his thighs, and slowly spread them.

It seemed now that walking around in front of Zoro in nothing but his underwear was a piece of cake compared to this. He had never, ever been so exposed to someone physically or mentally. All he could do was try and listen when Zoro murmured for him to relax and remember to occasionally let go of the blanket so blood could flow to his digits.

He gasped as he felt warm air blowing on his rear, and he realized that Zoro was causing it.

The green haired man started cautiously, then placed gentle kisses on Sanji's thighs, waiting several minutes for Sanji's rigid back to relax before he moved closer, and swept his tongue over the blond man's balls. Then he had to wait again for Sanji to relax as he took them into his mouth and massaged them. Finally, when he heard the heavy pants turn into a moan, he figured it was okay to move on.

He gripped Sanji's ass with both hands and spread him so that Zoro could see the dusky, quivering entrance. He wasted no time, licking at it longingly, running his tongue up from Sanji's balls up to the small of his back and then back again.

Sanji had made a noise and dug his knees into the mattress and told himself to breathe. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Oh god, that felt so fucking weird. But, before long, 'weird' became something closer to 'hot' and 'good', and he'd pulled himself up on his elbows again to gasp for breath.

Zoro rubbed tentatively at the puckered opening, then pressing firmly, he held Sanji's hips, waiting for the reactionary jerk. And Sanji did jerk, and gasped, and said, "Fuck!"

Zoro reached for the lube and twisted off the cap, squeezing some onto his hand. He kissed Sanji's right cheek before he said, "I'm gonna put a finger in, okay?"

Sanji nodded, panting.

"Was it good?" Zoro asked as he pressed one lubed finger to the entrance.

Sanji didn't know if he wanted to admit that it had been. He didn't even know how he was going to look himself or anyone else in the eye again.

He settled for whimpering as Zoro's finger pressed past the first ring of muscle and slipped inside.

Zoro stilled and closed his eyes. So hot and tight, and he really needed to keep his control now more than ever. He twisted slowly, looking at Sanji for a negative reaction. He snaked his free hand underneath Sanji's waist and gripped his length – oh, still very fine. He pressed the finger in further, gently coaxing it in and out.

"Relax," he murmured again. He pulled Sanji's hips up and back so that he was on his knees. "I'm putting in another."

Sanji nodded, and his back dipped as he felt the digit invade him. There was a stretch, kind of like a burning. He'd tried it briefly before by himself, but had not been impressed or motivated enough to get to a stage where he might enjoy it. The toys Saga had given him had remained unused. Their size was too intimidating to handle.

But somehow this was quite a bit different. There was still the discomfort, but Zoro's fingers were touching places much deeper than he had, and he couldn't tell if it was just so good it was overwhelming, or if it was so overwhelming that he couldn't tell if he liked it or not. And then Zoro's fingers made a rubbing motion as he slid them in and out and Sanji's elbows gave out on him.

"You alright?"

"Oh God, do it again-"

"Found your good spot?"

"Shut the fuck up and do it again," Sanji demanded. "Oh God, oh God -"

"So you _are_ a talker."

Zoro wrapped his hand around Sanji's length once again and felt it throb in his grip. He could feel the sticky trails of pre-cum as well.

"One more, alright?"

Sanji's only reply was a moan as Zoro pressed the third finger in and stroked his prostate, all in one motion.

He teased Sanji until he was panting and writhing beneath him. Then he stilled Sanji's hips, which he was sure Sanji hadn't realized he'd been moving, and said, "Turn over."

Sanji panted as he rolled onto his back and threw a hand over his eyes. He wanted to come so bad, he'd been so close until Zoro had removed his fingers.

Zoro lubed himself generously and lifted Sanji's legs until his knees were hooked over his shoulders again. He guided his cock to the man's entrance and looked at Sanji.

Sanji bit his lip and nodded.

Zoro kissed the inside of Sanji's calf and pressed forward.

"Ungh-" was the only noise Sanji made as Zoro entered him. The stretch was substantially more than three fingers, and he could feel his erection wilting rapidly.

Zoro stopped to let him adjust and rubbed consolingly at Sanji's hips.

Sanji forced himself to relax until the pain had subsided into a dull throb that pulsed throughout his entire body. Then he took a breath and nodded.

Zoro slid out a little before thrusting back in, and a few more times until he was fully sheathed. Then he bent over Sanji and kissed him passionately.

Using his hands to press against Sanji's thighs, Zoro lifted his hips and started slowly thrusting into the man underneath him. He buried his face in Sanji's neck and panted, trying to keep a slow rhythm. He was so tight, so hot, like velvet and silk and magma and he was taking him in all the way so sweetly, those muscles clenching as Zoro invaded them.

Sanji wrapped his arms around Zoro's shoulders and held on tightly, his entire body shaking with those thrusts, every muscle in his body clenching then releasing, his lungs barely dragging enough breath in. It was unbearable, it was hell, it was so fucking beautiful to have Zoro so deep inside of him like this. He wanted to cry. He was so full and Zoro was so deep and no one had ever, ever been there before.

"Zo…ro…" Sanji panted. "More…"

And Zoro obliged, removing another peg from his control, sitting back on his knees and gripping Sanji's thighs as he thrust faster and harder into that amazing heat. He was so far gone; there was no way he'd last as long as he needed to take Sanji as high as he wanted him to go.

He wrapped his hand around Sanji's slightly diminished length and stroked it into full hardness again.

"Sanji…" he panted. "Tell me when it feels good."

Sanji didn't know what he meant – it _did_ feel good. He needed to come and he wanted to come and-

"Oh, there, yes, yes, there fuck-"

Zoro increased his speed and strength again, aiming for that same spot over and over again. The sound of their skin slapping against each other was loud and obscene, and he didn't care if anyone nearby could hear it.

Sanji couldn't talk anymore, his thigh muscles were quivering underneath the strain, and he felt like something was going to break, something was going to give under this extreme pressure.

Zoro put both hands on the mattress and said, "Touch yourself."

Sanji quickly took his cock in his hand and stroked it fast.

"I want to see you come, Sanji."

"Fuck!" Sanji wrapped his legs around Zoro's waist and squeezed, thrusting up and down as he rode out his intense orgasm, his cum splashing between them.

Zoro watched the scene unfold beneath him, watched the shades of pleasure wash over Sanji's face. He slowed his thrusts and rocked gently into him until Sanji's entire body went limp and he moaned. Zoro kissed him.

Sanji floated gently in the bliss as Zoro continued to stroke him softly from inside.

"Zoro," he whispered. "Oh god…"

Zoro smiled. "Good?"

"Oh… I don't even know how to answer that… It was so… much…"

Zoro slowed to a stop and started to pull out.

"What are you doing?" Sanji trapped him with his thighs. "Don't."

Zoro chuckled. "Alright. I just thought I should stop if it's too much."

"I didn't say 'too' much, I said 'so' much. Now are you gonna fuck me right or not?"

Zoro scoffed. "I think I just _did_."

Sanji squeezed his thighs again and glared. "I'm not an idiot. You still haven't come yet, and you're not coming anywhere but inside me, got it?"

Zoro stared at his lover. "God, Sanji… I think I'm gonna get that tattooed on me somewhere."

Sanji slugged him in the shoulder. "Shut up."

"Alright, alright," Zoro smiled and moved his hips forward.

Sanji's expression went from annoyed to pleased. "Mmm, yeah. Like that."

He was still clenching erratically around him from the previous orgasm, and Zoro didn't waste any time. He picked up his pace quickly and thrust into Sanji repeatedly, listening as Sanji's pleas washed over him.

"Zoro, yeah, right there, mm, ah, yes, unn… ah, hah!"

Harder and faster, he lost himself until it was a flurry of motion and the lightning pleasure concentrated in his loins, and he flew apart.

He came hard into Sanji's tight heat, holding the blond tightly as he gave himself up to Sanji completely.

* * *

Somehow they'd ended up out in the living room watching TV anyway. Sex made Sanji very hungry, apparently.

End.


End file.
